Councils Should Do More To Tackle Homelessness, Say Experts

With homelessness and rough sleeping in England on the rise – up 30% in a year to over 3,500 rough sleepers – campaigners are calling for a change in the law.

At present, English councils only have to rehouse people faced with losing their homes who are judged to be “priority” cases. However, the single homeless, healthy adults without children, and are not pregnant or vulnerable, do not generally fall into the priority category.

A review of homelessness legislation, written by representatives from Crisis, Shelter, local councils, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation, says the law should be changed. In Wales, for example, local authorities have a duty to help prevent homelessness regardless of priority, and have to act within 56 days of the prospect of people losing their home. The groups that published the report say English law should be changed to adopt elements of the Welsh system.

Ministers made clear last year they were considering changing the law to help tackle homelessness. A government source said they were “very interested” in the ideas of a stronger duty of prevention and requiring councils to act earlier.

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said ministers had committed £139m to homelessness programmes and another £100m for accommodation in the Budget. He added: “This report makes interesting reading and we will continue work with homelessness organisations and across government to explore options, including legislation, to prevent more people from facing a homelessness crisis in the first place.”

But the Labour Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, although supportive of the proposal said the plan would inevitably require more money and housing stock. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If you say somebody’s homeless and I have to house them, I have to have a place to house them. I can’t magic things up.”