Homelessness report calls for new approach
A National Audit Office report on the effectiveness of government in tackling homelessness demonstrates the “urgent need for a new approach”, according to London Councils.
Its key findings include the following. Homelessness has increased in recent years and is now at the highest level since comparable data collection began in the early 2000s. A shortage of available housing makes it expensive for local authorities to house people in temporary accommodation, as well as harder for people to find a home.
Local authority spending on homelessness services, it found, has more than doubled since 2010-11. This puts severe financial strain on councils, with some telling the NAO that homelessness pressures could result in them issuing a Section 114 notice – effectively a declaration of bankruptcy. Central government’s funding arrangements for local authorities’ homelessness services remain “complex, fragmented, and sometimes uncertain”.
Although homelessness is a major challenge around the UK, the capital faces the most extreme pressures and accounts for almost 60% of all homeless households in temporary accommodation in England.
London Councils highlights its own estimate that more than 175,000 Londoners – equivalent to one in 50 residents of the capital – are currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation. This figure includes one in 23 children, meaning on average there is at least one homeless child in every London classroom.
Earlier this year London Councils’ research found boroughs were collectively spending £90m a month – or £3m every day – on temporary accommodation. The cross-party group warned these costs pose a “critical danger” to town halls’ financial stability.
