London boroughs fear rise in homelessness

London boroughs have warned of a fast-approaching summer wave of homelessness in the capital, with a ‘triple whammy’ of upcoming risks threatening to push homelessness pressures to record levels.

London Councils estimates there are currently 165,000 homeless Londoners living in borough-provided temporary accommodation, accounting for two-thirds of England’s homelessness total and more than the entire population of cities such as Norwich (143,000), Lancaster (146,000), or Oxford (152,400).

Homelessness in London previously peaked in 2005, when there were 63,800 households in temporary accommodation. With 60,680 London households in temporary accommodation today, boroughs fear new records could be set this year unless the government increases investment in homelessness prevention.

London Councils says that high unemployment and rent arrears, coupled with the lifting of the eviction ban and increasing uncertainty over homelessness funding could push homelessness pressures to record levels.

Recent research from the LSE suggests 400,000 Londoners are in significant rent arrears as a result of coronavirus, whilst separate research indicates that over 130,000 Londoners have become unemployed since the start of the pandemic.

The government’s temporary ban on evictions is due to end this month. While the ban has protected households in financial difficulty from being made homeless during the pandemic, no additional support has yet been provided to help private renters pay off their arrears. Boroughs anticipate a spike in renters facing eviction and turning to their local authority for help to avoid becoming homeless.

London Councils is calling on the government to: confirm both short-term and long-term funding arrangements; end the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments to begin; restore government funding for councils’ local welfare assistance schemes supporting residents in financial crisis; and increase Discretionary Housing Payment funding to support households at risk of homelessness.

Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ Executive Member for Housing & Planning, said: “Even though the Covid-19 situation is gradually improving, there’s a very real risk of London’s homelessness crisis getting even worse. In the coming months we can expect a triple whammy of continuing job losses in the capital, the imminent lifting of the evictions ban, and uncertainty over future funding levels for local homelessness services.

“Boroughs are doing everything we can to tackle homelessness in the capital, but ultimately we need the government to rethink its welfare policies and to boost long-term funding for local services if we’re to reverse these disastrous trends.”