New Research Shows The Scale Of Homelessness
Homelessness in the UK is at a record high with 170,000 families and individuals experiencing destitution, the charity Crisis reports.
For every one person sleeping rough on the street, there is another living in a car or a tent, figures suggest. New research published by Crisis insisted the underlying causes of homelessness could only be tackled by changes in government policy. The government said it is investing £1.2bn to alleviate the problem.
The new research on homelessness, carried out for Crisis by researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, suggested:
- Homelessness increased every year between 2012 and 2017
- 38,000 under-25s and 4,200 over-65s are estimated to be homeless
- 170,800 households are experiencing the most extreme forms of homelessness, compared to 151,600 in 2012. This includes people who are sofa-surfing, living in hostels and rough sleeping
- 12,300 people are sleeping rough and a similar number of people (12,000) are living in cars, tents or public transport – double the amount compared to 2012
Crisis released the statistics as it prepared to open up its Christmas centres for homeless people.
Singer Ellie Goulding, who has supported the charity for several years, visited one of its centres in London on Sunday. She told BBC News: “People can come here for the day, get in the warm, have a tea, have a shower if they need to and it’s just a really nice atmosphere and safe environment.” She added that Crisis and other charities did brilliant work but said more affordable housing was needed to tackle homelessness in the long-term.
Jon Sparkes, the charity’s chief executive, said: “This new research echoes what we see every day in our front-line work – that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ homeless person, and that this crisis is affecting people who range from young care-leavers to pensioners. And, while rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness, for every person on our streets there are another twelve families or individuals experiencing other terrible situations like sofa-surfing and living in cramped B&Bs.”
Crisis blames the problem on a shortage of social housing, housing benefits that do not cover private rents, and a lack of homeless prevention schemes for people leaving care. It wants the government to make policy changes.
