Two Families In London Are Made Homeless Every Hour

The housing charity Shelter predicted that 1,260 families in the capital will lose their home in the next month and 7,370 over the next six months – the equivalent of a household every 34 and 35 minutes respectively.

Shelter based its predictions on government homeless statistics and said more affordable homes must be built. Latest figures for the capital show that there are 43,820 homeless families, including 88,040 homeless children, in temporary accommodation.

Graeme Brown, Shelter’s interim chief executive, said: “Every day, we speak to homeless parents desperate to escape cramped emergency accommodation, where the whole family is often forced to share one room. With a chronic lack of affordable homes and welfare cuts continuing to take their toll, we expect to hear from even more families.”

The most recent government figures, from July to September last year, show that the number of households in temporary accommodation in Britain rose nine per cent on the same period in 2015. Of the 4,580 families accepted as becoming homeless in London, 40 per cent lost their home after a private tenancy came to an end.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently set out new planning rules to ease the housing crisis, by speeding up the building of more affordable housing, alongside £3.15 billion to support construction of 90,000 affordable homes.