Dec

Shelter blames rising rents and housing benefit freeze for driving homelessness

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Shelter blames rising rents and housing benefit freeze for driving homelessness

Shelter claims “unaffordable private rents and the freeze on housing benefit” are pushing more people into temporary accommodation.

According to the housing charity, 382,618 people are now homeless, including 350,480 people homeless in temporary accommodation, the highest since records began.

The news comes as the government have pledged to prevent homelessness by the end of this Parliament through its new homelessness strategy.

Newham is the local authority with the highest rate of homelessness in the country

The housing charity claims one in every 153 people in England are now experiencing homelessness, with households spending an average of nearly three years in temporary accommodation.

In the North West, the number of people recorded as homeless has grown by 15% in the last year, and in Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands it has risen by 11%.

Newham is the local authority with the highest rate of homelessness in the country, with 1 in 18 people homeless.

Outside of London, Slough is the worst-affected local authority, with 1 in 43 people homeless, followed by Hastings with 1 in 60 homeless and Manchester and Birmingham, where 1 in every 61 people are homeless.

Unaffordable private rents are pushing more people into homelessness

In a press release, Shelter blames rising rents and the freeze on local housing allowance (LHA) as trapping people in temporary accommodation.

The press release says: “The dire shortage of social homes, unaffordable private rents and the freeze on housing benefit are pushing more people into homelessness and trapping them there.”

Sarah Elliott, chief executive officer at Shelter, is urging the government to unfreeze LHA rates

She said: “It’s unthinkable that as winter sets in, more than 382,000 people are without a safe place to call home. Thousands of people are bracing themselves for their next freezing night on the street, while over 84,000 families are facing up to the grim reality of spending Christmas in damaging temporary accommodation.

“Every day at Shelter, we hear from parents who are terrified of waiting out another winter in appalling temporary accommodation. Cut off from family and friends in a bleak emergency B&B that’s miles away, they watch as their children’s breath hangs in the air and mould climbs the walls.

“We urge the government to help the families who are homeless right now by ending the freeze on housing benefit. This would immediately lift thousands of children out of temporary accommodation and into a home. While we campaign for change, our frontline services will continue providing direct support to those facing homelessness this winter and beyond.”

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