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Quarter of a million households experiencing ‘worst forms’ of homelessness, says Crisis
Nearly a quarter of a million households in England are experiencing the “worst forms” of homelessness, including rough sleeping, sofa-surfing and unsuitable temporary accommodation, according to new research.
The latest annual study by Heriot-Watt University, funded by homelessness charity Crisis, found that around 242,000 households across England are sleeping on the street, sleeping on friends or families’ sofas, or staying in nightly paid B&Bs.
Over three-quarters (85%) of English councils are facing an increase in homelessness, while nearly every local authority in England (97%) said they have struggled to find private accommodation for homeless people, the Homelessness Monitor study found.
Many councils are warning they are also running out of temporary accommodation and struggling to procure more, according to Crisis.
The report estimated that the number of households living in unsuitable temporary accommodation has tripled over the past 10 years, and predicted that the number of households living in temporary accommodation would almost double in 20 years unless the government builds more genuinely affordable homes.
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Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “The homelessness system is at breaking point. Temporary accommodation should be a short-term emergency measure, yet, as the report shows, it is increasingly becoming the default solution for many councils.
“This is leaving thousands of people living out their lives in a permanent state of limbo, enduring cramped, unsuitable conditions – with a fifth of households in temporary accommodation stuck there for over five years.”
He added: “For too long the emphasis has been on managing homelessness, not building the social homes we need to provide security to low-income households.”
Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, director of the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research at Heriot-Watt University, said: “This report highlights how councils across the country are facing an impossible situation. With record numbers of people experiencing homelessness, the vast majority of councils are expecting this already dire situation to become even worse.
“Without access to affordable private rented homes or social housing, we are only going to see more and more households forced into homelessness. We need to address the root causes that are pushing people into homelessness in the first place to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home.”
Darren Rodwell, executive member for regeneration, housing and planning at London Councils, said: “The homelessness situation is fast becoming disastrous, and requires urgent action from the government at a national level.
“In London, we face increasingly unmanageable pressures. It is utterly unsustainable to have one in 50 Londoners living in temporary accommodation. There is at least one homeless child in every London classroom – an appalling statistic showing the massive social impact of the worsening housing crisis.”
He called on ministers to work with councils to reverse the trend.
“There are at least 143,000 potential new homes we could begin building immediately in London if the government addressed the barriers to delivery, including by providing additional infrastructure and affordable housing grant funding,” Mr Rodwell added.
“We cannot afford delay. This is an emergency situation needing an emergency response.”
This week Inside Housing launched a new campaign, Build Social, calling for the next government to commit to building 90,000 homes for social rent a year in England over the next decade, or 900,000 in total.
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