Labour Responsible For Rise In Homelessness Says Top Tory

After nearly ten years of Tory rule, Chancellor Sajid Javid has blamed Labour for Britain’s rise in homelessness – despite his own Conservative party being in charge.

The remarks were made during an interview on 5th December, in which the former secretary for state of housing said the issue “reached its peak” in 2008 under the last Labour government. Figures from homelessness charity Shelter found the number of homeless people in the UK rose by 13,000 to 320,000 people in 2018.

As reported by 24housing, the release of Shelter’s Generation Homeless report found that 183 children lose their homes per day. 135,000 children in Britain are also said to be homeless and living in temporary accommodation – the highest figure recorded by Shelter in 12 years.

Releasing their £1bn ‘moral mission’ to end homelessness, the Labour party has pledged a £600m Modern Hostels Fund as well as an additional 4,000 ‘Housing First’ homes to meet rough sleeping targets. On the package of support, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it “shames the Conservative Party most of all” because of Conservative decisions to slash funding for hostels, housing benefit, homelessness services, and new homes – “all directly responsible for this increase in people living and dying on our streets.”

Ending the interview, TV anchor Sarah Hewson replied to the chancellor in saying: “You’ve failed because the numbers are up – you can’t dispute those numbers.”