THE homelessness rate across England is at its highest since 2018, after Tory government policies have forced a record number of families to live in temporary accommodation, according to official government figures.
The data for January to March, published on Tuesday, showed that a massive number, 79,840 households, were looking for help from local authorities to address homelessness or the risk of homelessness, as housing experts blamed the Tory government for the growing crisis.
Meanwhile, the figures show that around 105,000 households are in temporary accommodation, up 10 percent from a year earlier and the highest since records began in 1998.
This shocking number included more than 131,000 children, again at the highest level since records began in 2004.
Housing charities and statistical institutes yesterday described the new figures as extremely ‘worrying’, and pointed out that for the same period in 2022 the number of children living in temporary accommodation was 119,780. Housing campaigners have issued a serious warning that ‘the time for empty words on building social homes’ had ‘long past’.
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, described the current situation as one ‘where families are trapped in temporary accommodation due to the crippling cost of years of no investment in housing benefit and a shameful lack of social house building’.
The homelessness charity Shelter described the desperate situation facing the growing army of the homeless as one that required the government to take decisive action to prevent the situation from becoming worse.
Polly Neate, chief executive at Shelter, said: ‘To end homelessness for good, we need genuinely affordable homes.’
She added: ‘No-fault evictions are fuelling homelessness and throwing thousands of families’ lives into turmoil.’
Riverside, another leading organisation providing accommodation for homeless people, depicted the figures as ‘very worrying’, with a truly desperate crisis situation facing a growing army of homeless workers and youth.
The latest figures come a day after the mis-named Tory Secretary of State for ‘Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’, Michael Gove expressed his manifesto commitment to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s – but did not confirm when and how that would be achieved, or what type of ‘homes’ these would be.
However, Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, the national membership charity for frontline homelessness organisations, said the latest figures were ‘distressing reading’, describing the current situation as ‘serious’.
The Salvation Army warned that unless the freeze on housing benefits is lifted, many more families will lose their homes due to rent rises.
Nick Redmore, the charity’s Director of Homelessness Services, said: ‘Today’s figures show more people than ever are losing the battle to keep a roof over their heads. Unless housing benefits are urgently raised to cover the cost of rent, the homelessness crisis will only worsen.’ In fact the high rates of inflation are leaving ordinary people destitute, unable to buy enough food to feed their children, never mind the prospect of facing massive rising rent prices.
Competition among renters is so intense that there are 20 requests to view each available property, according to data commissioned by the BBC. The average number of requests to see each home has more than tripled from six in 2019, the figures from property portal Rightmove show.
The queue to view is even longer in some regions, reaching 30 in the North West of England. One family in the area said finding a home was stressful and hard. Demi and Andrew, who are both self-employed and have five children, said they faced ‘ridiculous prices’, a lack of options, and a wall of silence from some agents.
‘You can have all the money in the world, but it would still be a long process,’ said Demi as she looked around a home in which 50 people had shown an interest. ‘You just go around in circles. It is so frustrating.’
Following reports of large numbers of tenants chasing a much smaller number of properties to rent, Rightmove found that in Britain, in May, there were typically 20 requests to view each available property in Britain from prospective tenants. This mismatch between demand from tenants and supply from landlords has contributed to sharp increases in rents. Official figures show rent rising at its fastest annual rate since comparable records began in 2016.
There is only one way out of the crisis for workers seeking homes and this is battling inside the trade unions to make them call a general strike to bring down the Tories and to nationalise the banks and the building industry to build the millions of homes that are required.
The TUC Congress is meeting from Sunday10th September in Liverpool. The All Trades Unions Alliance will be lobbying it on Monday 11th September to demand that it calls a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government that will lay the basis for resolving the housing crisis by nationalising the banks and the building industry. This is the only way to resolve the housing crisis! Make sure that you are there!
THE homelessness rate across England is at its highest since 2018, after Tory government policies have forced a record number of families to live in temporary accommodation, according to official government figures.
The data for January to March, published on Tuesday, showed that a massive number, 79,840 households, were looking for help from local authorities to address homelessness or the risk of homelessness, as housing experts blamed the Tory government for the growing crisis.
Meanwhile, the figures show that around 105,000 households are in temporary accommodation, up 10 percent from a year earlier and the highest since records began in 1998.
This shocking number included more than 131,000 children, again at the highest level since records began in 2004.
Housing charities and statistical institutes yesterday described the new figures as extremely ‘worrying’, and pointed out that for the same period in 2022 the number of children living in temporary accommodation was 119,780. Housing campaigners have issued a serious warning that ‘the time for empty words on building social homes’ had ‘long past’.
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, described the current situation as one ‘where families are trapped in temporary accommodation due to the crippling cost of years of no investment in housing benefit and a shameful lack of social house building’.
The homelessness charity Shelter described the desperate situation facing the growing army of the homeless as one that required the government to take decisive action to prevent the situation from becoming worse.
Polly Neate, chief executive at Shelter, said: ‘To end homelessness for good, we need genuinely affordable homes.’
She added: ‘No-fault evictions are fuelling homelessness and throwing thousands of families’ lives into turmoil.’
Riverside, another leading organisation providing accommodation for homeless people, depicted the figures as ‘very worrying’, with a truly desperate crisis situation facing a growing army of homeless workers and youth.
The latest figures come a day after the mis-named Tory Secretary of State for ‘Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’, Michael Gove expressed his manifesto commitment to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s – but did not confirm when and how that would be achieved, or what type of ‘homes’ these would be.
However, Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, the national membership charity for frontline homelessness organisations, said the latest figures were ‘distressing reading’, describing the current situation as ‘serious’.
The Salvation Army warned that unless the freeze on housing benefits is lifted, many more families will lose their homes due to rent rises.
Nick Redmore, the charity’s Director of Homelessness Services, said: ‘Today’s figures show more people than ever are losing the battle to keep a roof over their heads. Unless housing benefits are urgently raised to cover the cost of rent, the homelessness crisis will only worsen.’ In fact the high rates of inflation are leaving ordinary people destitute, unable to buy enough food to feed their children, never mind the prospect of facing massive rising rent prices.
Competition among renters is so intense that there are 20 requests to view each available property, according to data commissioned by the BBC. The average number of requests to see each home has more than tripled from six in 2019, the figures from property portal Rightmove show.
The queue to view is even longer in some regions, reaching 30 in the North West of England. One family in the area said finding a home was stressful and hard. Demi and Andrew, who are both self-employed and have five children, said they faced ‘ridiculous prices’, a lack of options, and a wall of silence from some agents.
‘You can have all the money in the world, but it would still be a long process,’ said Demi as she looked around a home in which 50 people had shown an interest. ‘You just go around in circles. It is so frustrating.’
Following reports of large numbers of tenants chasing a much smaller number of properties to rent, Rightmove found that in Britain, in May, there were typically 20 requests to view each available property in Britain from prospective tenants. This mismatch between demand from tenants and supply from landlords has contributed to sharp increases in rents. Official figures show rent rising at its fastest annual rate since comparable records began in 2016.
There is only one way out of the crisis for workers seeking homes and this is battling inside the trade unions to make them call a general strike to bring down the Tories and to nationalise the banks and the building industry to build the millions of homes that are required.
The TUC Congress is meeting from Sunday10th September in Liverpool. The All Trades Unions Alliance will be lobbying it on Monday 11th September to demand that it calls a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government that will lay the basis for resolving the housing crisis by nationalising the banks and the building industry. This is the only way to resolve the housing crisis! Make sure that you are there!
