New government figures on homelessness released today
show:
- In the last year alone, 59,090 households were accepted as
homeless by their local council – a rise of 17% over the last 5
years
- A further 199,630 cases were at risk of homelessness and
sought help through the council
- 1 in 4 households stay in temporary accommodation for more
than a year before being rehoused and a shocking 1,290 families
spend more than the six-week legal limit living in
B&B’s
Anne Baxendale, director of communications,
policy and campaigns at Shelter, said:
“The Grenfell Tower tragedy has left people without a
home and living in a dire situation, it has also thrust the issue
of homelessness into the spotlight. While Shelter is calling for
those affected to be placed in good quality temporary
accommodation nearby, and hope officials make good on their
promise to do so, we know many local authorities simply don't
have enough affordable accommodation for those on low incomes.
It's a similar story across all London boroughs and the country
more widely, so it’s no surprise that today's homelessness stats
reveal the problem is getting worse nationally, with more
households becoming homeless every year.
“Many of the families that come to Shelter for advice
say the benefit cap is pushing them into homelessness. Many
desperately want to work but can't make up the required hours of
work a week due to childcare issues or insecure work like zero
hours contracts. That's why we're pleased today's high court
judgment, which Shelter provided evidence for, has found that the
cap discriminates against lone parents with children under 2. In
the words of the judge, ‘real misery is being caused to no good
purpose.’ We are calling on the government to scrap the cap
immediately, before it pushes even more people into
homelessness.”
Notes to editors
- Anyone who is worried about losing their home can get free
and independent, expert advice from Shelter
at www.shelter.org.uk/advice or
by calling the helpline on 0808 800
4444.
-
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
statistics were released for the three months from 1st January
2017 to 30th March 2017. The last twelve months of data is from
1st April 2016 to 30th March 2017. We compared this to data
from April 2011 – March 2012.
-
The number of households accepted as homeless by their
local council is from the Department for Communities and Local
Government (DCLG) Live homelessness table 770
- The number of cases of people at risk of homelessness who
sought help through the council is the number of cases where
positive action was successful in preventing homelessness. This
is from the Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) Live homelessness table 787. These figures are the number
of cases where local authorities have successfully prevented
homelessness. Multiple cases may involve the same household
during a 12 month period.
- The time spent by households in temporary accommodation
before being rehomed is from the Department for Communities and
Local Government (DCLG) Live homelessness table 779. These
figures are the length of time that households leaving temporary
accommodation or no longer recorded as ‘duty owed, no
accommodation secured’ in the last quarter, spent in temporary
accommodation. These figures do not include households who are
still in temporary accommodation. In the last quarter, 26% of
households leaving temporary accommodation had been there for
more than one year.
- The number of families spending over 6 weeks in B&B
accommodation is from Department for Communities and
Local Government (DCLG) Live homelessness table
774_England.
