Report: “One Household Becomes Homeless Every Four Minutes”

Just hours after Government announced its rental protection plan, its own newly released statistics show that in the last year a household became homeless every four minutes in England.

With the Resolution Foundation calling Coronavirus a “full blown economic crisis”, the stats estimate 62,280 homeless families living in temporary accommodation, of which 9% (5,400) are living in emergency B&B’s and hostels where they have to share facilities kitchens and bathrooms and often sleep in a single room. The number of families living in temporary accommodation has increased by almost a third (31%) in the last five years, reports 24Housing.

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said the stats strengthened her call for Government to take emergency measures that safeguard temporary accommodation families. “Thousands of families with children are in this situation, living in cramped emergency B&Bs and hostels,” she said.

“It can be more difficult for them to follow NHS isolation guidance when they are sharing kitchens and bathrooms with strangers, living a single room or even sharing a bed – and we don’t know how children will cope being stuck in these conditions when schools close. We need to protect families already experiencing the trauma of homelessness from greater risk of Coronavirus.”

“That’s why we’re urging the government to follow suit with additional funding and support for councils to help those currently in shared temporary accommodation and prevent anyone else ending up there. This is a key way we can keep more people safe,” she added.

A briefing report from the Resolution Foundation (RF) warns that the “full-blown economic crisis” of Coronavirus will see low earning families hit most swiftly – in stark contrast to 2008. The report – Doing what it takes, protecting firms and families from the economic impact of coronavirus – says sectors already heavily affected have typical weekly pay of £320, compared to £455 for the economy as a whole.

Less than one-in-ten of those in the bottom half of earners say they can work from home, making it much harder for them to protect their incomes in the face of social distancing measures, the report finds. Those in the most at-risk sectors and occupations are also shown as having less to fall back on, being around 25% more likely than average to live in families with no savings at all. RF says this is the backdrop to an “urgent need” for the Government to step up its economic response, with “much bolder steps” beyond present provisions.

Imran Hussain, Director of Policy and Campaigns, Action for Children, said the RF findings could not be clearer when Government did not yet appear to be grasping the scale of the damage COVID-19 could do to the economy and living standards. “This report shows us in stark and worrying terms that it will be most poorly paid bearing the brunt of the government measures to deal with the outbreak,” said Hussain.

Action for Children’s frontline staff are said by Hussain to have already been running unofficial foodbanks and dropping food parcels to the homes of vulnerable families: “And now they tell us the added instability of this huge health and economic crisis means these families who are struggling to keep their heads above water are terrified of going under.”

“Families need to know they are not on their own, the government urgently needs to offer a rescue package for family finances to help keep people in work, boost the incomes of people on low pay and put a protective shield around those who can’t work,” he added.

Cllr David Renard, Local Government Association housing spokesman said: “These figures highlight the extreme pressures homelessness services continue to be under, as a result of rising demand driven by a severe shortage of social housing. Councils are leading local efforts to support people at risk of homelessness during the coronavirus outbreak, and will be working closely with tenants who are experiencing financial difficulty as a result, to help them remain in their homes.”

Cllr Renard added: “The recently announced measures to protect tenants from eviction will help to reduce homelessness. The Government also needs to urgently address the growing shortfall between housing benefit and the cost of private sector rents and councils also need the flexibility to ensure the hardship funding announced in the Budget is best-used to support economically vulnerable people and households to prevent homelessness.”