Council Accused Of ‘Intimidating’ Homeless Families

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Families living in temporary accommodation have accused a south London council of making “intimidating” unannounced home visits which they say left them fearing eviction, reports the BBC.

Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL) said some families have had unannounced visits from Lambeth Council’s housing officers, while others received unexpected emails about being moved far outside London. The housing campaign group claimed the council’s efforts to reduce the temporary accommodation costs have created a “confusing and stressful” environment.

Lambeth Council said it had a duty to visit families in temporary accommodation to inspect housing conditions and to help them find long-term, stable homes.

In November, the council announced that most homeless households would need to be placed outside the borough, and often beyond the south east of England, due to a lack of suitable accommodation locally. The move followed a major review of its Placement Policy, which had remained largely unchanged for more than a decade. The cost of temporary accommodation in Lambeth has risen to more than £100m a year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). The council must find £183m in savings over four years. It has so far identified £99m, with a further £84m still to be found before March 2026.

The number of homeless households supported by the council has increased by about 50% in the past two years, with more than 4,600 households now being housed in temporary accommodation each night. Two homeless households spoke anonymously to the LDRS about their experiences. One resident, who has been a member of HASL for three years, said the council contacted her to say she and her family had to leave their temporary accommodation and find a home in the private rented sector. The woman said they were given 56 days to secure a private rental, leaving them feeling “stressed and under pressure”.

Another resident said she believed she was being forced to leave her temporary accommodation after what she described as “intimidating” visits from housing officers. She said: “If Elizabeth Wyatt from HASL was not with me, I would be really, really scared, I don’t know the law, I don’t know anything but because of Liz and the group I don’t feel scared like before. I’ve been bidding for nearly eight-and-a-half years – what is the point in taking me from here to somewhere outside of London? I think that’s what they want to do with us. I asked the council why would you want to do that? They told me it’s very expensive here, it’s very expensive in London.”

In October, HASL staged a protest outside Lambeth Civic Centre and attempted to deliver a letter calling on the council to stop making what it described as “unannounced and intimidating visits”. The group claims the council refused to accept the letter. Wyatt from HASL said: “We were shocked when we heard reports of housing officers making unannounced visits to our members in temporary accommodation.” She said members were “left believing they would be imminently evicted” while another family was told by email they would be sent to Dover. She also criticised the council’s use of what she described as “private sector discharge” – where homeless households are given mandatory offers of private rented housing. “This policy, which Lambeth Council has never used before, creates a cycle of homelessness and undermines vital homeless rights,” she said.

Lambeth Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for housing, Danny Adilypour, said the authority was working “compassionately” to support homeless families. The Labour councillor said the council was “doing what we can” to build new affordable homes on council-owned land but the “scale of the crisis means that is not enough” after decades of falling social housing stock. “This crisis is a tragedy for every family affected and is placing unsustainable pressure on council budgets,” Adilypour said.

He said the council was prioritising the limited social housing available in Lambeth for those with the greatest need, but in most cases had to look outside the borough for permanent homes. “Despite the challenges we are determined to give homeless households the stability and security they desperately need by giving them longer-term placements in areas that will meet their family, cultural and community needs,” he added.

Meet The Inspirational 15-Year-Old Girl With A Plan To House Homeless Families

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15-year-old Scarlett Chapman has launched Mission: HOME, a grassroots campaign looking to help councils build homes for families trapped in temporary accommodation, reports the Big Issue.

Local councils are struggling to keep up with the record number of homeless families living in temporary accommodation across the UK – but one inspirational teenager is offering a helping hand. Scarlett Chapman, 15, from Hove, has launched grassroots campaign Mission: HOME to help her local council identify new sites where they can house the almost 3,000 parents and children living in temporary accommodation in Brighton and Hove. Mission:HOME is working with the local council to identify small unused plots of council-owned land, known as microsites, in which to build new homes to address the crisis. A planning application for the first site the group has identified is currently underway to build four homes in Woodingdean.

Chapman is urging people to show their support for the campaign before the consultation ends on 3 February as part of her mission to tackle homelessness. “I think across Brighton and Hove there are quite a few unused plots of land everywhere, particularly small ones. I think this is because the council tends to build on larger plots of land for efficiency,” said Chapman. “When I was thinking about families trapped in temporary accommodation, I was trying to think: We need more of it so how can we go about doing that? That’s where the idea stemmed from.”

Despite her tender years, tackling homelessness has been a lifelong pursuit for Chapman. The aspiring singer-songwriter first noticed homeless people on streets across Brighton and Hove when she was eight years old and that switched her on to the cause. “I noticed that there were homeless people and I couldn’t really understand why,” said Chapman. “So I began asking about it and raising money for different homelessness charities across Brighton and Hove. Doing that, I raised over £10,000 and by the time I was 12 I had found out about the hidden homelessness. I had spoken to a mother who is currently and has been in temporary accommodation for the past 15 years. I think it was when she told me that she had to hoover mould off of her daughter’s bedroom walls to stop her from being sick. I knew I wanted to help. That’s how Mission: HOME started.”

It was Anna and David’s story that touched Chapman’s heartstrings. The couple and their four children have lived in temporary accommodation for so long that their youngest son has never known any different. The family have moved through three different temporary homes, often at short notice, and some have been in a poor condition. In one home the damp was so bad that one child’s daughter began to “disintegrate” while another would wake up with “white flecks” over their bedding. “It makes you feel like you’re not human,” said Anna, who works part-time while caring for her children while her partner David is self-employed. “Sometimes the only thing keeping me here is my children.” She added: “We’re not asking for anything special. We just have a housing need. I don’t want a house ‘given’ to us. Social housing should be for people who need it until they don’t.”

It’s a story that has become all too familiar both locally and across the UK.

Simon Gale, chief executive of Justlife, a Brighton-based charity that supports people living in temporary accommodation, said:  “Across Brighton and Hove we’re seeing record numbers of people trapped in temporary accommodation. The reality is that the only way to bring those numbers down is to build more social housing, including on sites like in Woodingdean, which are currently lying empty. This crisis won’t be solved by the private rented sector or by short-term fixes. It will only be solved by giving people the secure, permanent homes they need.” Mission: HOME’s plan also has the backing of Jacob Allen, Labour councillor for Woodingdean at Brighton & Hove City Council, who urged locals to get behind it.

As for Chapman, she hopes that the plan can be the first step on a larger mission to turnaround the country’s homeless crisis. With a big future ahead, Chapman is optimistic that a Britain without homelessness can one day exist. “Yeah definitely. I think with Mission: HOME on the site in Woodingdean that we’re working on at the moment, I think this is a starting point for us. This is the first project that we’ve taken on,” she said. “But hopefully once the planning application does get approved, this will show the council that the public are actually open to having more social housing in the community. So I think there will be many more projects to come, and hopefully it will spread nationally. I think it’s amazing how much of a difference that people can make when they work together.”

As for Chapman herself, she harbours dreams of becoming a music icon and has even released a couple of songs on Spotify as a teenager. But she is adamant that tackling homelessness will factor in her plans whether on stage or off. “I think that everyone’s got their passion, something they’re passionate about. For me, that is definitely helping to end the homelessness crisis that we’ve got,” she said. “I’ve always had a dream of becoming a performer, so singing and songwriting. I hope one day I’ll have, potentially, some influence if I’m performing on stage. I think that homelessness is a challenge that we all have a role to play to overcome it. If I ever did become big in performing then I would try and use my voice to raise awareness.”

The Innovative Project Giving Homeless People A Fighting Chance

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Hitting the gym and taking up boxing and mixed martial arts for self-improvement is nothing new – but harnessing their power to strike back against homelessness certainly is, reports the Big Issue.

Fighting Homelessness is a community interest company (CIC) going into gyms across Wales and running introductory 10-week programmes for people experiencing homelessness. The idea is the brainchild of homelessness caseworker Robert Green, who piloted the project in 2019 before striking out on his own with the CIC in 2021. “It all came together one day when I was with one of my caseload clients,” he tells Big Issue. “He came forward saying he was doing a different kind of boxing programme. The moment he said it I just clicked and thought: how have we never actually thought about using martial arts and boxing as a way to help people back into sustainable living and to tackle homelessness?”

Green took the idea to gyms and devised a 10-week programme that helps people learn the basics of boxing and martial arts like jujitsu. The programme has attracted coaches such as MMA fighter Ieuan Mackenzie, while a more self-defence focused programme called She is Worthy has been launched with coaching from Commonwealth judo bronze medallist Jasmine Hacker-Jones. The idea behind the project is not about producing fighters for competition. It’s about promoting the benefits of exercise and healthy living and shifting people out of their comfort zone and into new communities.

“We’re not interested in athletic outcomes, if you will,” says Green. “We have had them and they’ve been a bonus but, to us, it’s always about the outcome in terms of sustainable living. A lot of people who are in homelessness stay in homelessness, because they feel like that’s the only community that accepts them. It’s the same with addiction – they only stay within the circles of addiction because they feel like the other communities don’t accept them. “So what we’re showing is the gym community is accepting them and they start to move them away from the negative environment into the positive.”

An avid martial arts fan himself, Green took inspiration from his father and started practising alongside his siblings as a youngster. It’s nothing new to harness combat sports to divert negative feelings into positive ones. Green recalls stories of others finding the sports to put them on the straight and narrow after becoming involved in anti-social behaviour in younger days. To people who are experiencing homelessness, the endless pursuit of progress in the sports can offer something that life often cannot.

“The biggest thing is the endorphins and the dopamine and the sense of feeling good about themselves,” says Green. “A lot of people in homelessness, they don’t feel like they have an identity. They don’t feel like they are a part of a community group. They don’t feel proud of themselves or anything. But setting a personal best is a reason for them to get up in the morning. Getting up and reminding themselves they’re homeless is horrible, bless them. But when they wake up, they put their Fighting Homelessness jersey on, they feel part of that group, that team. They feel good about being a part of that and they realise they’ve got a goal to set for today.”

The support ethos that Fighting Homelessness champions even comes down to the kit. Jerseys with the Fighting Homelessness logo on are part of the 10-week programme. They remind people who take part that they are “worthy”.

It’s become something of a catchphrase for Green. “There’s nothing that we do just for the sake of doing it, because it’s cool,” he says. “Everything we do is about support, even down to a detail like that in the kit, it’s everything, even the word worthy.”

For now, Green is the sole employee of Fighting Homelessness with around five volunteers helping him to cover cities and towns across Wales. But he has big plans for the future. Green wants to take on two new employees this year and the next step for Fighting Homelessness is to get accommodation of their own. Green believes this will help the people supported by the project to focus on nutrition and take away the negative effects that come with homelessness. While that’s the big ambition for 2026, even longer term, the dream is for Fighting Homelessness to get a home of their own: a gym and accommodation in the same spot.

Green tells Big Issue an example he heard from one man that drives his ambition for a base. “Before he got through the front door, there was somebody smoking spice,” says Green. “He got through the front door, there was somebody arguing with the staff. He went upstairs and somebody was having a mental health breakdown. He goes into his room, locks himself in, isolates himself, and then all the negativity starts up again. So that’s an uphill battle for us. What we want to do is take away that by having our own house, coming back to a house that is Fighting Homelessness and everyone in the house is training, everyone is having a similar goal.”

Homeless Men Refused Entry To City Centre Hotel

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A receptionist at the Holiday Inn Express told the men due to hotel policy they were not allowed to stay, reports the BBC.

Two men were told they could not stay in their pre-booked rooms at a city centre hotel after being identified as homeless – on a night when temperatures plunged to -6C (21.2F). Despite the rooms being paid for by a charity, the men were told by staff at the Holiday Inn Express on Oxford Road, Manchester, it did not “allow” homeless people to stay there.

The rooms were pre-booked by Two Brews charity volunteer Amanda Thompson who said the group were told “the hotel won’t allow them, it’s the company’s policy”. A Holiday Inn Express Manchester spokesperson has since apologised, saying the incident was “not in keeping with our policy of welcoming all”.

“After speaking with team members, we recognise that this incident is not in keeping with our policy of welcoming all and should have been handled differently,” they added. The spokesperson said the hotel was “taking steps internally to strengthen our training”.

The incident, which was filmed by a charity volunteer and shared on social media, happened on Monday evening. The men were later able to check-in to a Travelodge hotel in Moss Side. In the footage, the men can be heard telling the receptionist that, “it is -6 degrees outside”, adding “they just want to get their heads down”.

The staff member told the men it was “company policy” and not “his personal views”. “I’m not going to lie to you, I won’t be able to check you in. Full truth and transparency I know you are from the street and the hotel won’t allow it,” he added.

Amanda Thompson from the Two Brews charity, who made the booking, said it was “disgusting” to turn the two men away. “It’s inhumane and discrimination by appearance,” she said. “What happened to being kind to each other?” The volunteer at the charity, set up in 2020 to support homeless people and rough sleepers, said she paid £51.50 for each room with donations from a friend as well as a £50 deposit to cover any damage.

“I booked the Holiday Inn Express on Oxford Road because one of the men has a bad foot and it was the nearest one,” she said. She said she ended up getting the pair into a Travelodge, where staff are “amazingly supportive” of the charity.

Homelessness Facts And Statistics: The Numbers You Need To Know In 2026

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Homelessness is on the rise all around the UK. These are the rough sleeping figures and homelessness facts you need to know, reports the Big Issue.

Homelessness is a big issue affecting hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and the issue has reached critical levels around the country in 2026. The cost of living crisis and the housing crisis in the UK means more people are facing homelessness. It’s an issue that should remain at the forefront of our minds as a society, not just when World Homeless Day comes around on 10 October every year. Despite living in the world’s sixth biggest economy, people are still living with no place to call their home in this country, whether it be sleeping rough, sofa surfing or any other type of homelessness. This injustice must end.

There are ongoing efforts to end homelessness and rough sleeping. Labour has promised to buyild 1.5 million homes and pledged to invest £39bn in building social and affordable homes over the next decade. Meanwhile, a cross-government homelessness strategy was published at the end of 2025. The Scottish government has declared a housing emergency and has an emergency housing action plan to reduce homelessness, particularly among children living in temporary accommodation. The Welsh government is also focusing on more social housing to ease its own homelessness crisis and is introducing new legislation to bring a new “radical” approach to prevention. Meanwhile, London mayor Sadiq Khan promised to end rough sleeping in the city by 2030 before his re-election.

But before you can tackle a problem, you must first learn the scale of the issue. That’s why it is vital that we know the facts and figures about homelessness. Here are the numbers you need to know:

How many people are homeless in the UK?

Homelessness in England, Scotland and Wales (as well as Northern Ireland) is typically measured separately but recent analysis by the FT found that one in every 200 households in the UK is experiencing homelessness. That means the UK does not fare well against other developed countries. John Glenton, executive director of care and support at Riverside housing association, said: “Shamefully, the UK tops the global league table with by far the highest rate of homelessness in the developed world with one in 200 households living in emergency temporary housing. It is now crucial to focus on solutions and work with the government to end this national scandal and international embarrassment.”

How many people are homeless in England?

The latest official statistics show 330,410 households were owed support to prevent or relieve homelessness after contacting their council for help in 2024-25. That’s a 0.9% increase on the previous year. Record numbers of households are living in temporary accommodation in England. A total of 132,410 households were living in temporary accommodation as of June 2025 – a record-high and 7.6% higher than a year ago. The total number of children living in temporary accommodation has now reached 172,420. The official rough sleeping snapshot revealed 4,667 people were homeless on England’s streets in autumn 2024 based on single-night counts and estimates by frontline workers and local authorities. That figure represents a 20% increase in just a year and is just 2% lower than the 2017 peak when 4,751 were recorded as sleeping rough. It’s also 164% higher than in 2010 when the count began.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government also tracks rough sleeping over the course of a month in England. The data showed 9,574 people were sleeping rough through July 2025. That’s 94% higher than in July 2021 and a new post-pandemic high, according to analysis from the Centre of Social Justice. The London-only Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) figures are considered to be more accurate than the official one-night count. The most recent annual count showed 13,231 rough sleepers spotted on London’s streets between April 2024 and March 2025. That’s record high and a 10% increase on the previous year’s total as well as 63% higher than a decade ago.

How many people are homeless in Wales?

The most recent statistics showed more than 13,287 households needed support from councils due to homelessness between April 2024 and March 2025. A total of 10,876 people were living in temporary accommodation as of September 2025. An annual rough sleeping count has been scrapped in Wales as of 2024, while an estimated 160 people were sleeping rough as of September. The Welsh government is working on new legislation with the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Bill looking to move towards preventing homelessness.

How many people are homeless in Scotland?

The most recent annual statistics found there were 34,067 households classed as homeless by local authorities in 2024-25, including 38,674 adults and 15,046 children. A total of 17,240 households were living in temporary accommodation in 2024-25, up 6% from 16,330 the previous year. There were 10,180 children in temporary accommodation as of March 2025, down from 10,360 six months earlier.

The Scottish government has declared a housing emergency in the country.

Scotland doesn’t use the same method of counting rough sleeping as England and Wales. Rather than counts and estimates, statisticians rely on reports to local authorities. The number of households that reported sleeping rough the night before applying to local authorities for support rose from 1,932 to 2,465 applications between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Meanwhile, 3,058 households said they were sleeping rough in the three months prior to contacting local authorities for help.

How many women are sleeping rough in the UK?

Women are often missing from rough sleeping counts because they tend to be less visible than male rough sleepers due to the risk of violence on the streets. That means women are more likely to seek shelter in cafes, transport hubs or other places rather than bedding down outside. A coalition of homelessness and women’s organisations in London joined forces to tackle the issue in October 2022. Their first national census across England found the number of people sleeping rough could be as much as 10 times higher than the official rough sleeping count.

How does homelessness affect health?

Poor health can cause homelessness but health worsens when people lose their home. Homeless Link’s Unhealthy State of Homelessness 2025 report found 80% of people experiencing homelessness are dealing with multiple physical health issues. Chronic breathing problems, heart problems and cancer are the most diagnosed, meaning thousands of people are dealing with debilitating conditions while sleeping rough, in hostels or in unsuitable temporary accommodation. Homeless Link found nearly 60% of people experiencing homelessness and ill health receive a physical health diagnosis before becoming homeless, including in conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes and traumatic brain injuries.

The research, based on experiences of more than 700 people experiencing homelessness, found half of people sleeping rough said their health had declined over the last 12 months. Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, comments: “This new evidence that we are not preventing people who are already unwell from becoming homeless is utterly devastating. The research makes clear that homelessness is not only a housing problem, but also a health problem.”

What do people think about homelessness?

Four out of five Brits think that homelessness is a serious problem, according to an Ipsos poll for the Centre for Homelessness Impact at the end of 2024. The poll, which quizzed 2,142 people on their views on homelessness, found 70% of those surveyed agreed that homelessness doesn’t get enough attention in society. Most people – around two-thirds – believe that homelessness will increase in the UK over the next 12 months while barely a quarter think homelessness can be ended and twice as many think homelessness is inevitable. But 79% of Brits told pollsters that identifying people who might be at risk of homelessness earlier, such as in health and education, would make a difference.

Ligia Teixeira, chief executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact, said: “These survey results highlight the pressing need for bold, preventative action to address homelessness…”

How can we end homelessness?

Homelessness is a complex issue and, as a result, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It takes effort to remove the reason why someone is homeless and also treatment for the trauma and mental toll of homelessness. More broadly, there also needs to be efforts to address the systemic drivers of homelessness and that also takes political will to focus the sufficient resources in the areas where they will make a difference. Homelessness experts, charities and organisations propose plenty of changes to how society operates to end homelessness for good.

Rough Sleeper ‘Would Have Died’ Without Help

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A former rough sleeper has said he would not be alive today if he had not received help from his local mental health trust’s Rough Sleeper Team (RST), reports the BBC.

Paul, 57, who now lives in temporary accommodation in Maidstone, Kent, spent a number of years living on the streets and has been diagnosed with severe depression. The RST began supporting Paul and his dog Cally about 18 months ago. Paul said that without the help of the specialist team from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT): “I’d be dead now… guaranteed.”

He added: “There were times where I knew my homelessness and my depression was getting that bad, and I was getting ill and I was getting sick. I wasn’t taking care of myself at all. I wasn’t washing. I’d be wearing dirty clothes. I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. I was thinking any minute now they’re going to come and take her [Cally] and they’re going to section me. I’m off, she’s gone and that’s it.”

Describing his experience of being supported by the team, he said: “I’ve never experienced care like that outside my family. It was just unbelievable support, and support that I desperately needed years before.”

Estimates suggest that between 40% and 80% of the rough-sleeping population suffers from mental illnesses, which significantly hinder their ability to find and maintain stable housing. The average life expectancy for people who sleep rough is just 43 years. The nationwide Rough Sleeping Initiative supports local authorities in providing tailored services aimed at helping people achieve secure and sustainable lives away from the streets.

In 2022, the government announced an investment of up to £500m in funding to local authorities across England as part of a multi-year funding between 2022 and 2025. The RST collaborates with the Homelessness Services of West Kent and Medway’s borough and district councils to focus on the mental health aspects of homelessness. It provides mental health screening, assessments, and improved access to local care services.

John Lavelle, KMPT’s service director for west Kent, said the approach had “proven effective in working with and supporting people in our most vulnerable communities”.

Homeless People Were Given £2,000, No Strings Attached. Here’s What They Spent The Money On

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The Centre for Homelessness Impact trial transferred a lump sum directly into bank accounts but the study showed people spent the cash on furniture, courses and even a second-hand car, reports the Big Issue.

A new trial has handed people experiencing homelessness £2,000 to spend on whatever they want – and what happened next may surprise you. The Centre For Homelessness Impact (CFIH) trial transferred the lump sum directly into the bank accounts of people with recent experience of rough sleeping or staying in temporary accommodation in London and Belfast and attached no conditions to how they spent it. A total of 125 people received the cash while the other 125 taking part receive support from homelessness charities and other services. The goal of the trial – the first of its kind in the UK and emulating a smaller study in Vancouver, Canada – was to see what they would spend the money on.

The final results are expected to be published in 2027 but early observations reveal that participants used the money to help improve their lives. CFIH reported that some bought furniture and household items for new accommodation or paid for clothes or courses to look for work. Others bought a second-hand car to be able to drive their children to school. Ligia Teixeira, chief executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact, said: “Our cash transfers project is rooted in a straightforward yet powerful belief: when people have direct access to resources, they gain agency over their lives and livelihoods.”

She added: “By challenging outdated assumptions about how support is delivered, we hope to see not just immediate relief but real shifts in economic participation, decision-making and resilience. We need to ask ourselves what is best for all of us in society. Do we continue to invest in an ever growing crisis system or do we give those at risk even better opportunities to self exit?”

While cash transfers are widely used in low and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, there have been fewer programmes that give cash transfers to people affected by homelessness and, until now, none of any scale in the UK. With the cost of homelessness skyrocketing across the UK, CFIH’s trial is looking to evaluate whether direct cash transfers can reduce poverty and boost health as well as participation in society and the economy.

The randomised controlled trial, funded by Citi Foundation and St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity, will show the impact on participants’ housing stability one year after they received the money when final results are published in 2027. Researchers will also use surveys to assess any impact on their housing quality and satisfaction, wellbeing, financial security, social connectedness and contact with public services and the criminal justice system.

Initial observations, however, are promising.

One man used some of the money to pay off debts and the remainder to furnish a new home, as he moved out of temporary accommodation. A parent bought a car to be able to drop their children off at school and one participant has used the money to fund driving lessons and hopes to buy a car. Another young man also paid off debts and began researching courses to enable him to find work as a plumber. One woman said that the money came just at the right time, as she was struggling with childcare costs. For a young person who wasn’t able to study at university because they couldn’t afford the fees, the money has given them hope to continue pursuing education. Other items purchased include children’s clothes and Christmas presents, tickets for a first ever holiday abroad and savings to start a business. One woman said the money had come at the perfect time as she was heavily pregnant and had just been offered a move-on property.

Angie Allgood is founder and director of NEWway Project in Newham, East London, which is one of the delivery partners alongside Change Please Foundation, Centrepoint, Lambeth Council and more. Allgood said: “So far, the guests that have received the money have spoken about feeling more optimistic, happier, hopeful and can see a better future. We are excited to see the long term outcomes.” In a pilot phase of the trial, items purchased included sports equipment, a television, a mobile phone, furniture, gym membership, books and clothes.

Liverpool Dad Gives Hundreds Of Meals To Homeless People To Set An Example To His Children

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Baz Miah said he sees the reality of life on the streets for Liverpool’s homeless community every day, reports the Liverpool Echo.

The owner of a city curry house has donated 200 meals to help Liverpool’s homeless community at Christmas. Baz Miah, who runs the Taj restaurant on Lark Lane, says that Christmas is a time when people who are homeless need help the most. He told the Echo: “I want everyone to be a part of Christmas and enjoy a nice hot meal. By donating the food it makes me feel extremely happy they will experience the magic of the season, helping them feel valued and less forgotten.” To that end Baz has had his chefs make up 200 takeaway meals and has given them away to a local homeless charity to pass on to their clients.

He added: “Christmas is a very festive time, but for a lot of unfortunate people it comes with loneliness, so I thought as a family, me and my wife, to bring some joy, cheer and put smiles onto people’s faces, we should donate some food from the restaurant. A hot meal will bring a nice smile to someone’s face.” While thousands pour out of Lark Lane’s restaurants and pubs each weekend, those who sleep rough or who are homeless, in the local area are overlooked by passers by, but Baz said that helping those less fortunate has been something that has been on his mind for some time.

He said: “On Lark Lane we see a lot of homelessness around us, we get people regularly knocking on our windows and asking if there is any food left over, especially during this time of the year. It just makes us sad to see that they have to beg for food when other people have a lot. That is what has really made me want to do it.”

He added: “We’ve had this idea for a few years, because during this time of year there are a lot of people who need some warmth, something to smile about. We see people day and day out who are suffering in and around Liverpool, and I thought, do you know what, to bring a nice smile to people’s faces we should give some food from the restaurant.”

In November Baz reached out to homeless and housing charity the Whitechapel Centre to provide some much needed supplies for those in need. He said: “I chose to donate the food to the Whitechapel Centre as they have a long history of helping the homeless and needy around Liverpool. I got in touch with Ruth, who’s the distribution manager, I got an insight into what they do and how they help and how many homeless people they deal with. So, having all of that information, I felt that this is the place that I should donate the food to.”

Baz says that his main priority is to inspire his children to be better people. He said: “It’s really nice that people are very supportive and really happy when I tell them that I will be helping the homeless during a festive time. I’m hoping that my kids will learn from what I’m doing, that during a time of festivities, not everyone is as fortunate [as us].” He added: “Teaching children to help the homeless builds empathy, responsibility, and compassion, showing them first-hand that everyone deserves dignity and kindness.”

Growing Numbers Of Over-60s Facing Homelessness

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Housing crisis reaches UK’s oldest generations as high private rents and lack of social housing hits pensioners, reports the Guardian.

The housing crisis has reached the country’s oldest generations, charities have warned, with a growing number of people over the age of 60 seeking help for homelessness. Housing charities said they had seen cases of people over-60 developing health problems from being forced to sleep in their car for months, having to sleep on camp beds in emergency shelters and seeking homelessness support even while suffering illnesses such as cancer.

Marie Dennehy, a senior service manager at St Mungo’s, said they had seen an increase in over-65s, often with complex health problems, coming to them for emergency housing support over the past two years. “We’ve got a guy in the service at the moment who’s 87 – it’s madness,” she said. “We never used to see the number of pensioners we’re seeing now.” She added that council cuts and the lack of social housing meant that single homeless applicants, even those who are elderly, were not being prioritised for properties. “That 87-year-old might not necessarily be seen as priority need because they might say, he’s in perfect health, we’re not going to provide him accommodation. Our argument would be, OK, he’s in perfect health, but he’s also 87. He’s clearly more vulnerable than someone who’s 38,” she said.

Dan Holland, from the Salvation Army’s homelessness services team, said that 10% of people living in the charity’s residential accommodation were over 55, and they were seeing a large number of people in the older age category coming to them for help. “Not as many people now have a mortgage that they’ve paid off and a roof over their head that they can call their own. Lots more people are renting, relying on housing benefit which has been frozen, so it’s not rocket science, eventually they will end up experiencing homelessness,” he said.

One of those was Raymond, 63, who ended up sleeping in his car for seven weeks after becoming homeless following the breakdown of his marriage. He approached the council at least six times for help and was told he was not a priority, before he ended up living at a Salvation Army centre in the north-west. “My legs were bad, they were really swelling up because it was only a small car so I couldn’t stretch my legs. I was sleeping on the seat and my body was just getting in a mess,” he said. “My doctor put me on folate tablets because I couldn’t afford to eat properly. I wasn’t getting any vegetables. I just never got any advice. And I think the trouble with people my age, my generation, we just get on with it, we don’t always reach out. I have no idea what I’m going to do in the future as I’m approaching retirement.”

Holland said services would soon need to start thinking about palliative and end-of-life care for homeless people, as more and more people end up in unstable accommodation in the last months of their lives. “If you are experiencing homelessness and you are naturally coming to the end of your life, or you’ve got a terminal illness – where do you go? That’s a huge issue that I think is definitely on the horizon,” he said.

Research from Crisis found that one in five (17%) older people said they wanted to retire but could not because of their housing costs, while the number of older people facing homelessness in England has risen more than 50% in the past five years. There has also been a 35% increase in the number of over-55s in temporary accommodation since March 2022. Experts said the problem has been exacerbated by the country’s now deeply entrenched housing crisis, which has resulted in home ownership becoming increasingly out of reach and forced people to rent into their later years, leaving them vulnerable to eviction or unsustainable rent increases.

Ben Twomey, the chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “Soaring rents were locking people into renting for decades, forcing older people to live in homes unsuitable for their needs and damaging to their health, while pushing some into homelessness.” Edith Gomes Munda, a 61-year-old renter in Huntingdon, said she was increasingly fearful for the future, having been forced to move twice in recent years owing to her landlord selling up and rent rises that she could no longer afford. “It worries me that I may have to move every three or four years, and getting older, there comes a point when everything gets more difficult, more tiring,” she said.

“I’m now 61 and I will get my pension soon but I don’t know if it will cover the rent. I’m healthy enough but how long will I be able to keep working for? I have that on my mind all the time. With the rent increases, you feel like you have to constantly move, you can’t really settle down.” Munda added that she previously was unable to buy a home and now it was too late. “I gave up on that and continued with my life. Now I’m too old, I wouldn’t find a lender when I don’t know how long I can work for. The only other option we have is to apply for social housing, but the waiting lists are so long,” she said.

The government has yet to publish its long-term housing strategy, which has been delayed until March, but experts say prioritising older people is essential. “Even a reformed private rented sector doesn’t really work for older people. We get a lot of calls from people who have had to leave private rented homes as they’re just priced out, and they can’t find anywhere else,” said Lisabel Miles, housing policy manager at Age UK. “There’s going to be a lot of older renters emerging into retirement with real concerns about where they can go.”

Hundreds Facing Homelessness In Liverpool This Christmas

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The grim numbers for our region come as government sets out its major rough sleeping plans, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Hundreds of people are facing a grim Christmas on the streets of Liverpool and Merseyside, with rough sleeping hitting record figures for this time of year. In Merseyside, there were an estimated 289 rough sleepers in September – the latest date for official figures – which was 49 more than the previous year and more than double the 127 rough sleepers counted in 2021. In our area, far more rough sleepers were counted in Liverpool than anywhere else, 161 in September, three times as many as in St Helens (55), which had the next highest number.

The rough sleeping rate – the number of people sleeping on the streets when compared with the size of the population – is also highest in Liverpool. For every 100,000 people who live in the city, there were 32 rough sleepers. That’s the equivalent of about one in every 3,000 people being homeless and sleeping on the streets.

David Carter is the chief executive of the Whitechapel Centre, Liverpool’s primary homelessness and rough sleeping charity. He said: “If you went back a few years, the numbers wouldn’t ever get to 100. They are still way too high. One person on the streets is way too many, when you have 160 it is shameful. It is symptomatic of the crisis, of things being so wrong. Last year we worked with 4,670 different individuals, of those, 1,258 had spent one or more nights sleeping rough in our region.

He added: “So 27% of everyone we worked with had slept rough. That should be the absolute minority, it is disgusting. The numbers of people coming through our doors have continued to increase but the single biggest cohort is those rough sleeping. It was a 20% increase last year.”

The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government says the numbers of people sleeping rough “are at record highs for this time of year”. An estimated 9,292 people were seen sleeping rough across England in September, 299 more than in the same month the previous year, and a 76% increase from the 5,287 rough sleepers recorded in September 2021.

The worrying figures come as the Labour government announces its major plan to end the country’s homelessness crisis. The plan contains three new pledges, aiming to halve the number of long-term rough sleepers by the end of this Parliament term, reduce the time families are spending living in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation and to prevent more people from becoming homeless in the first place. The government says its plan is backed by a £3.5bn investment and has been shaped by the voices of those who have experienced homelessness.

Mr Carter, who has been at the front-line of tackling Liverpool’s own homelessness crisis in recent years, said it was positive to see this commitment, but said it is only a start, with much more investment needed. He told the ECHO: “It is always heartening when someone commits to something isn’t it. They have said they are going to halve the number of people rough sleeping. It has been a long time coming and we have got to an absolute crisis, so you do think could we have got here earlier but it is brilliant that there is a commitment now. It is definitely a step in the right direction.”

He added: “It is good to have a three-year strategy and at the heart of it is the fact that prevention is key. That is heartening because we know the damage that homelessness causes is phenomenal so prevention being recognised is brilliant. When austerity came, the first things that went were prevention services and we shouldn’t be waiting for people to be in crisis, the damage is done at that stage. So they are using the right language. But it is only a start.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool Wavertree Labour MP Paula Barker, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for ending homelessness told Sky News that the government plan has a “depressing lack of meat on the bone”. She said: “From what I have seen so far, it leaves more questions than it answers – where are the clear measures around prevention? Where is the accommodation for people sleeping rough coming from – has it already been built? What about specialised provision for those fleeing domestic abuse? We needed this strategy to be bold.”