Government told it is failing to tackle rising homelessness
THE GOVERNMENT has failed to do enough to tackle the rocketing homelessness that has been partly fuelled by its own welfare reforms, according to a damning assessment by the public spending watchdog.
The report by the National Audit Office found that the last six years have seen a 60 per cent rise in the number of households in temporary accommodation and a 134 per cent hike in the number of rough sleepers.
The estimated cost of tackling this increase in homelessness is more than £1bn a year.
But despite the growing problem, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has continued with a “light-touch” approach, while failing to assess the impact of its own housing and welfare reforms.
The NAO report, published today, follows a commitment by the Conservatives to halve the numbers of rough sleepers by 2022 and eliminate rough sleeping altogether by 2027.
The 2017 manifesto also includes a pledge to set up a homelessness reduction taskforce that will focus on prevention and affordable housing. The watchdog says the ending of private-sector tenancies is the main cause of homelessness in England.
However, it goes on to state that local housing allowance reforms are “likely to have contributed” to making tenancies for claimants less affordable and “are an element of the increase in homelessness”.
“Government has not evaluated the impact of its reforms on this issue, and there remain gaps in its approach,” concluded NAO head Amyas Morse. “It is difficult to understand why (DCLG) persisted with its light-touch approach in the face of such a visibly growing problem.”
Commenting on the report, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said the findings “should shame Ministers”.
“The increase in homelessness since 2010 is visible in almost every town and city in the country but today’s report shows Ministers haven’t even bothered to draw up a proper plan to deal with it,” Mr Healey said. “After an unprecedented decline in homelessness under Labour, Government policy decisions are directly responsible for the rise in homelessness.”
Labour’s Meg Hillier, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, added: “It is a national scandal that more and more people are made homeless every year.”
Ministers haven’t even bothered to draw up a proper plan.
Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey.