Thousands Made Homeless As Rents Rise And Housing Benefits Fall
Thousands of families are being made homeless because they can’t afford a suitable place to live after being evicted by private landlords.
According to a report in The Guardian, the end of an assured short-hold tenancy (AST) was cited by nearly a third of the 15,170 households in England who were classed as homeless in the three months to June – a number that was up 10% on the same period last year. The end of an AST has quickly become the single biggest cause of homelessness in recent years, triggered by rising rents and cuts to housing benefit support.
The government’s statistical release says: “Affordability [of housing] is an increasingly significant issue, as more households facing the end of a private tenancy are unable to find an alternative without assistance.” The statistics also reveal a sharp rise in the number of homeless households with children who had been unlawfully resident in unsuitable temporary bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than six weeks.
Because of chronic shortages of affordable houses, local authorities are forced to use B&Bs in their areas – this shortage is caused, in part, by government cuts to housing benefits. The figures show that 73,120 households were in temporary accommodation, up 9% on the previous year. Although councils are required to ensure families do not stay in B&B accommodation for longer than 42 days, 1,140 households found themselves in this position in the three months to June, up 29% on the same period last year and the highest recorded number since 2003.
Tory MP Bob Blackman has drawn up a private member’s bill seeking to require councils to do more to help households at risk of losing their homes. His Homelessness Reduction Bill to the Commons for debate on October 28th.
The Bill will impose a duty on local authorities to help prevent people at risk of losing their homes from becoming homeless and it is likely to need Government support to become law. Mr. Blackman said: “It is a contribution to helping people that are facing homelessness. I think it sits with Theresa May’s social agenda so that everyone benefits from the economic situation of the country, which is very positive.”
“It is a national disgrace when we have the highest number of people in employment ever, we have a low rate of unemployment, that we still have people sleeping rough. Goodness knows what will happen if there is a recession,” he added.
Those who are homeless, or threatened with homelessness, can ask their local authority for assistance. This is granted if they are considered as being unintentionally homeless and in priority need, such as having dependent children.
The homelessness charity Crisis called on MPs to support Blackman’s bill, which has cross-party support. The chief executive of Crisis, Jon Sparkes, said: “It isn’t enough to help people at crisis point. We need to prevent them from losing their home in the first place.”
“We need a change in the law to prevent more people from losing their home and to make sure all homeless people can get the help they need, while councils need the funding to make this work. Prevention has already been shown to work in Wales where it has dramatically reduced the need for people to be rehoused.”
