‘Gross shortage’ of decent social homes in England

The government has released new figures on homelessness in England, which Shelter says highlights the fact that thousands are struggling to survive the pandemic while homeless.

The figures for the period July to September 2020 show that, even with curbs on legal evictions, many households were tipped into homelessness over the summer. Almost 70,000 households approached their local council and were found to be homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Between July and September 2020, councils were only able to help 20 per cent of households at risk of homelessness to stay in their existing home. Moreover, 49 per cent of households found to be homeless by their local council were not helped to find a home – showing the impact of a lack of suitable social housing.

The three most common triggers of homelessness between July and September were households no longer being able to stay with families and friends (33 per cent), the loss of a private tenancy (13 per cent) and domestic abuse (12 per cent).

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Coronavirus has ripped open the cracks left by the gross shortage of decent social homes in this country. Thousands of people are struggling to survive the pandemic without a home thanks to decades of political neglect.

“Even with the curbs on legal evictions, people are still being thrown into homelessness, as they have throughout this emergency. From the taxi driver sleeping rough because the council say they cannot help, to the mother fleeing domestic abuse in search of a place of safety, this pandemic continues to be a never-ending nightmare. Too many people have suffered too much. The government cannot continue to fail its citizens by allowing homelessness to rise through inaction. There is only one exit strategy that will end this crisis for good, and that is rapid investment in genuinely affordable social homes.”