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| Sharp rise in number of homeless households in England | Sharp rise in number of homeless households in England |
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| The number of households considered homeless in England has risen by more than 3,000 over the course of six months, government statistics show. | The number of households considered homeless in England has risen by more than 3,000 over the course of six months, government statistics show. |
| Between January and March this year, 32,740 households were initially assessed as being homeless, up 11.2% from 29,430 in the previous quarter. | |
| There were 70,430 households initially assessed as being either homeless or threatened with homelessness, a rise of 10.7% from 63,620 in October to December 2018, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) reported. | |
| However, the figures only account for those who have been deemed by authorities to be homeless with charities estimating the actual total to be much higher. Years of austerity, changes to the benefit system and rising rents have led to sustained increases to the number of people made homeless. | |
| Across rural England, the number of households classified as homeless almost doubled over the past year, according to an analysis by the countryside charity, CPRE. Its report said that 173,584 families were on council waiting lists for social housing in rural authorities, but that just 1,336 homes for social rent were built in those areas last year. | |
| The housing charity Shelter said one household was becoming homeless every four minutes in England in the last year and called on the government to invest in a “new generation” of social homes. | |
| The government claims rough sleeping in England fell for the first time in eight years in 2018, from 4,751 in 2017 to 4,677. But the body that oversees the quality of official statistics in the UK has said the number should not be trusted after 10% of councils changed their counting methods. Rough sleeping in London has hit a record high, with an 18% rise in 2018-19. | |
| The numbers of people sleeping rough across Scotland have also risen, with 2,682 people reported as having slept rough on at least one occasion. | |
| Shelter, whose figures include rough sleepers and people in temporary accommodation, estimate that overall around 320,000 people are homeless in Britain. | |
| The government’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which places new duties on state institutions to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness has been in force for more than a year, but two thirds of councils have warned they cannot afford to comply with it. In 2018, James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, announced a one-off £30m funding pot for immediate support for councils to tackle rough sleeping. | |
| Rough sleeping and begging are illegal in ENgland and Wales under the Vagrancy Act 1824, which makes ‘wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or wagon, and not giving a good account of himself or herself’ liable to a £1,000 fine. Leading homelessness charities, police and politicians have called on the government to scrap the law. | |
| Since 2014, councils have increasingly used public space protection orders to issue £100 fines. The number of homeless camps forcibly removed by councils across the UK has more than trebled in five years, figures show, prompting campaigners to warn that the rough sleeping crisis is out of control and has become an entrenched part of life in the country. | |
| A Labour party analysis has claimed that local government funding cuts are disproportionately hitting areas that have the highest numbers of deaths among homeless people. Nine of the 10 councils with the highest numbers of homeless deaths in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017 have had cuts of more than three times the national average of £254 for every household. | |
| A study of more than 900 homeless patients at a specialist healthcare centre in the West Midlands found that they were 60 times more likely to visit A&E in a year than the general population in England. | |
| Homeless people were more likely to have a range of medical conditions than the general population. While only 0.9% of the general population are on the register for severe mental health problems, the proportion was more than seven times higher for homeless people, at 6.5%. | |
| Just over 13% of homeless men have a substance dependence, compared with 4.3% of men in the general population. For women the figures were 16.5% and 1.9% respectively. In addition, more than a fifth of homeless people have an alcohol dependence, compared with 1.4% of the general population. Hepatitis C was also more prevalent among homeless people. | |
| Sarah Marsh, Rajeev Syal and Patrick Greenfield | |
| “During a year where Brexit negotiations have totally dominated the political agenda, catastrophic numbers of people have become homeless,” said , chief executive at Shelter. | |
| “Cripplingly expensive private rents, frozen housing benefits, and lengthy waiting lists for social homes are pushing people to the sharp edge of a housing emergency which won’t go away without genuinely affordable homes. | |
| “The government must invest in a new generation of social homes – three million more in 20 years – if they are to pull hundreds of thousands of people out of homelessness. And in the meantime, they must urgently increase housing benefit so that it covers at least the bottom third of private rents.” | |
| The charity Crisis said everyone should have “the right to a decent home”, and though it welcomed “the success” of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) in preventing nearly 60,000 households from becoming homeless in England it called on the government to address the causes of the issue. | |
| “We know we can do better,” said Jon Sparkes, chief executive at Crisis. “The HRA has great potential, but it can only go so far when people are being pushed to the brink, struggling to meet the cost of housing. The government needs to tackle the root causes of this issue – investing in building more social housing and restoring local housing allowance, so that it covers the true cost of renting.” | |
| The charity added that more than 7,000 households were currently in B&Bs and unable to access safe and secure accommodation. “Our clients tell us of damaged, and even dangerous conditions, where they lack basic cooking and laundry facilities and face the constant pressure eviction at short notice. No one should have to live like this.” | |
| The National Housing Federation said the number of households in temporary accommodation overall had reached an eight year high – 84,740 households on 31 March – with 126,020 children now living in temporary accommodation, an 83% rise since its lowest point in June 2011. | |
| In the report, MHCLG acknowledged for the first time that a proportion of those considered “hidden” homeless would have been omitted in previous statistics, suggesting that some of those who live in overcrowded, insecure or uninhabitable conditions had now been accounted for. | |
| The National Probation Service, which supervises offenders after they leave prison, made the most referrals to authorities reporting either homelessness or fears that households were threatened with homelessness. | |
| The answer to the UK’s homelessness crisis is painfully simple: give people homes | Harry Quilter-Pinner | |
| The statistics are based on full or partial returns from 319 out of 326 local authorities and MHCLG said it was working with councils to improve the quality of the data. | |
| However, in November, Shelter said its own research suggested at least 320,000 people were homeless in Britain, with prominent statisticians casting doubt over official counting methods. | |
| MHCLG said more people than ever before were entitled to support to prevent homelessness, after it was made a statutory obligation to local authorities. | |
| “The Homelessness Reduction Act is the most ambitious change to homelessness legislation in decades,” minister for homelessness Luke Hall MP said. | |
| “Today’s figures show that progress is being made. The act is helping people earlier so they are not having to experience homelessness in the first place. | |
| “There is still more to do though, which is why we have committed a record investment to ending homelessness and rough sleeping for good.” | |
| The department added that another £54m would be spent in 2020-21 to help reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, a 13% budget increase on this year. | |
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