The number of people forced to sleep rough on our streets is spiralling - John Healey

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, commenting on the latest rough sleeping statistics released today, said:

“It is a national scandal that in England in the 21^st century the number of people forced to sleep rough on our streets is spiralling upwards – and this is only the tip of the iceberg. 

“These figures are a terrible reminder of the consequences of Conservative Ministers’ seven years of failure on housing.

“The number of people sleeping rough fell under Labour but has more than doubled since 2010, and has risen every year under the Conservatives. 

“This is a direct result of decisions made by Conservative Ministers: a steep drop in investment for affordable homes, crude cuts to housing benefit, reduced funding for homelessness services, and a refusal to help private renters.

“Ministers’ long-promised housing white paper will fall at the first hurdle if it does not set out how they will end the national shame of rough sleeping, as Labour has committed to do.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• ·         The ‘Rough sleeping in England: Autumn 2016’ statistics were released today (25^th January) by the Department for Communities and Local Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2016

• ·         They reveal that:
  • o   The number of people sleeping rough has now risen 134 per cent since 2010, to 4,134
  • o   The number of rough sleepers in England has increased 51 per cent in the last two years
  • o   Homelessness has risen every year since 2010

• ·         Between 2009/10 and 2015/16 the number of statutory homeless households has increased from 40,020 to 57,730, an increase of 44%. In contrast, Labour cut homelessness by 62% from 1998 to 2010: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/555919/Statutory_Homelessness_and_Prevention_and_Relief_Live_Tables_2016_Q2.xls

• ·         The shameful rise in homelessness is part of the Conservatives’ seven years of failure on housing, and has been driven directly by decisions made by Conservative Ministers including:

• o    cuts to housing benefit support worth over £5bn since 2010 – thirteen separate cuts to housing benefit over the last five years, including the bedroom tax and breaking the link between housing benefit for private renters (local housing allowance) and private rents (HoC Library analysis);
• o   cuts to ‘supporting people’ which funds homelessness services – the National Audit Office have revealed that this vital funding fell by 45% between 2010 and 2015: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Impact-of-funding-reductions-on-local-authorities.pdf
• o   soaring private rents - averaging more than £2000 extra each year compared to the same point in 2010 according to some industry estimates: http://www.lslps.co.uk/documents/buy_to_let_index_sep15.pdf; http://www.lslps.co.uk/documents/buy_to_let_index_sep16.pdf ; and
• o   the loss of affordable homes – the number of new government funded homes for social rent which started construction in that year has fallen from nearly 40,000 in 2009/10 to less than 1,000 last year:  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572767/Live_Table_1012.xlsx

• ·         In December John Healey set out Labour’s commitment to end rough sleeping within the first term of a new Labour government. As a first plank of a new national rough sleeping strategy, a Labour government would double the number of homes ‘ring-fenced’ for people who have slept on the streets, renewing a housing scheme started by Conservative Peer and former Housing Minister Sir George Young for London in 1991: http://press.labour.org.uk/post/154456851729/labour-pledges-to-end-national-shame-of-rough.