Homeless sleeping in barns as housing crisis spreads to rural areas

PEOPLE ARE sleeping rough in barns and outhouses as a hidden homelessness crisis hits rural areas, an influential think-tank has warned.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned that it is particularly hard to prevent or relieve homelessness in the countryside because of the difficulties in covering larger areas and the lack of specialist resources compared to cities.

The left-of-centre thinktank said the promotion of the countryside as a “rural idyll” could “mask” the presence of households at risk of becoming homeless or already without a roof over their heads.

In 2015-16 some 6,270 households were accepted as homeless in 91 mainly or largely rural local authorities in England, an average of 1.3 in every 1,000 households.

A fifth of all homeless cases occurred outside most urban areas.

From 2010 to 2016 “mainly rural” authorities recorded a 32 per cent increase in rough sleepers, while in “largely rural” areas there was a 52 per cent rise.

IPPR research fellow Charlotte Snelling said: “Many people see of England’s homelessness and rough sleeping as a problem which only affects England’s big cities.

“However IPPR’s research shows that it is a real problem in rural areas too. It is often hidden with people forced to bed down in outhouses, barns, tents and parked cars.

“However, this isn’t something we simply have to accept: building more affordable homes alongside putting in the right support from government would do much to tackle this issue. This will require politicians both locally and nationally to accept their responsibility.”