More than 50 organisations call on leaders to take urgent action on homelessness

“Everyone needs a safe space to live and the support they need to keep it. No one should have to experience the hardship and indignity of homelessness.”

The letter highlights that rough sleeping rose by 27% in 2023 and 60% over the past two years.

They wrote: “Meanwhile, a record number of people including over 145,000 children are currently experiencing homelessness, trapped living in temporary accommodation often in squalid and overcrowded conditions.

“These are people let down by systems that should protect them, unable to achieve their potential, their lives blighted by insecurity.”

The organisations said that the homelessness sector has “contracted significantly” at the same time. 

The latest research from Homeless Link found that the number of bed spaces for people experiencing single homelessness has decreased by 26% since 2010.

The letter states: “With pressure on services growing, 71% of accommodation projects reported having to turn someone away from support because their project was full.

“We recognise that whoever forms the next government will have many competing priorities.

“But the impact of homelessness leaks across public life from placing huge strain on the NHS, to crippling local authority finances, to preventing people from finding secure employment.”

The letter quotes research from PwC, the professional services firm, which shows that every £1 invested in ending homelessness generates an estimated £2.80 in wider savings and benefits.

The organisations are calling on the next government to build 90,000 social homes per year over a decade and reform the private rented sector.

On Thursday, Labour announced its plans for reforming the private rented sector, including an immediate ban on Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions. However, it has not made any specific pledges on social home numbers.

The Conservatives shelved the Renters (Reform) Bill ahead of the general election.

The organisations called on the next government to ensure that Local Housing Allowance always keeps track with private sector rents, “ensuring people on low incomes have access to truly affordable housing”.

They have called for a long-term plan for housing, “the single biggest step we can take to prevent homelessness”, as well as a cross-government strategy to end homelessness, led by a new task force.

The next government must also ensure that there is a diverse network of homelessness services available to “all who need them”, as well as having long-term ring-fenced homelessness funding.

Inside Housing’s Build Social campaign is calling on parties to build 90,000 homes per year.

Recent research by the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations found that the capital’s social homes alone contribute nearly £6.9bn to the UK economy annually.