Report reveals number has soared in 3 years
THE scale of England’s homelessness crisis has been laid bare by a report revealing one in 200 people have no place to call their own.
The current total of 280,000 homeless nationwide has risen by 23,000 from 2016, charity Shelter’s analysis found.
It includes 4,677 people sleeping rough, 254,927 living in temporary accommodation arranged by themselves or the council,
3,937 being accommodated by social services, 14,684 in hostels and 2,292 not accommodated by councils.
Government data also shows a further 220,000 were threatened with homelessness in the last year.
Experts say the lack of social housing and cuts to housing benefits are among reasons for the stark figures.
Sarah Martin and her son Ishmael, 14, were evicted from her mother’s home when she died, and forced to spend a year in “squalid”, cockroach-infested temporary accommodation.
Sarah, of Newham, East London, said: “People would stumble around the corridors wild-eyed on drink and drugs. It was completely terrifying.” Sky-high rents in the capital have contributed to the estimated 170,068 homeless in London – one in every 52 Londoners. In Birmingham 17,258 people are homeless and in Manchester there are 5,385, 123 of whom are sleeping rough. Other black spots include Luton with 4,691 homeless, Brighton and Hove with 3,876, and Milton Keynes with 1,959. Shelter’s annual report on homelessness focuses on England due to differences in how figures are recorded. Chief Polly Neate said: “Homelessness blights lives and leaves a lasting imprint of trauma, and yet 280,000 people are without a home this Christmas. This is the grim truth our new government must confront.” The Ministry of Housing said it was helping to reduce numbers in temporary accommodation and putting £1.2billion into tackling homelessness.
The number of people in Manchester sleeping rough over Christmas