Shelter responds to government’s Homelessness Strategy by calling on it to wipe out homelessness in its entirety

Shelter responds to government’s Homelessness Strategy by calling on it to wipe out homelessness in its entirety

Charity’s services sound the alarm with 382,618 people now homeless in England

On the day the government publishes its National Plan to End Homelessness, new research from Shelter reveals 382,618 people in England - including a record 175,025 children - will spend this Christmas without a home. This means 1 in every 153 people are now homeless.

The charity’s homelessness total, which combines official homelessness figures and responses to Freedom of Information requests, breaks down as follows:

• 350,480 people are homeless in temporary accommodation (TA), most of whom are families with children. This is the highest number of people in TA since records began

• 7,146 people are living in TA arranged by themselves or are ‘homeless at home’

• At least 4,667 people are sleeping rough on any given night – up 20% in one year

• An estimated 16,294 single people are in hostels or other homeless accommodation

• At least 4,031 people are in accommodation provided by social services

• Households in England have spent, on average, nearly three years in temporary accommodation.

While Shelter welcomes the government’s commitment to tackling homelessness, the charity warns not enough is being done to get the record number of people who are already homeless into a permanent home. Its frontline services, including its free emergency helpline, are providing direct support to thousands of people who are terrified of waiting out another winter in appalling temporary accommodation or freezing on the streets.

Sarah Elliott, Chief Executive of Shelter, said: “With more than 382,000 people homeless today, the government is doing the right thing by giving this scandal the attention it deserves. While the focus on preventing homelessness in its strategy is positive, we still badly need a plan to get the people who are currently stuck in temporary accommodation, or on the streets, into a safe home.

“We applaud the government’s £39bn investment in social and affordable homes, but until a lot more of these social homes are built, one of the only ways to escape homelessness is if you can afford to pay a private rent. We know from our frontline services this is almost impossible to do when housing benefit remains frozen, and that is where the homelessness strategy falls short.

“Many of the families calling Shelter are stuck in inherently damaging temporary accommodation for years - this should not be the tolerated norm. For the government’s strategy to work, its goal must be to wipe out homelessness in its entirety. This requires unfreezing housing benefit to help people right now, as well as delivering 90,000 new social rent homes a year for 10 years.”

ENDS.