Lack of housing leaving homeless on the streets

Homelessness charity Crisis has said that councils are being left to leave homeless people on the streets because of a chronic lack of local affordable housing.

Research from Crisis showed that 38 per cent of those asking their local authority for help saw their situation remain the same or worsen, while, in some cases, the only help people were provided with was a list of potential private landlords for them to contact.

The charity surveyed 984 people who had been seeking homelessness assistance for two years and conducted face-to-face interviews with 89 others, as well as six local authorities. It found that legislation introduced in 2018 to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place had ‘significantly expanded’ access to assistance, particularly for single people.

The Homelessness Reduction Act requires councils to take reasonable steps to help secure accommodation. Crisis claims that it has made a difference, but its impact was being ‘constrained by a chronic lack of housing and cuts to housing benefit’.

It is now calling on the government to invest in housing benefit so that it covers the cheapest third of rents and also to commit to building 90,000 social homes each year for the next 15 years.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “Across England, councils are being forced to leave the people they are trying to help on the streets or drifting from sofa to sofa - all because they cannot find somewhere safe and affordable for them to live. The Homelessness Reduction Act can be at the heart of ending homelessness for good, as this report shows, but this is only possible if councils are properly resourced and have the tools they need to help people leave homelessness behind for good."

David Renard, the Local Government Association’s housing spokesman, said: “Councils are doing what they can to support all people who face the tragedy of being homeless, and we fully support this report’s call for more affordable housing. Homelessness services, which face a funding gap of more than £400 million by 2025, are under extreme pressure as a result of rising demand driven by a severe shortage of social housing.
 
“Councils want to work with government to be able to prevent homelessness before it happens, but as a result of unprecedented funding pressures, they are becoming increasingly limited in what they can do. More than two thirds of council homelessness services are now being forced to spend more than they budgeted for on homelessness.
 
“In this week’s Budget we want the government to give councils the power to set their own Right to Buy discounts and to keep sales receipts in full, as well as restoring Local Housing Allowance rates to cover at least the lowest third of market rents. It is also important that government invests in homelessness prevention and gives councils the funding and powers they need to prevent homelessness and get back to building the affordable homes the country needs.”