Homeless shelters in Preston full as rough sleeping figures rise
24% more people are homeless in the North West than in 2021
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has today released two sets of statistics on homelessness in England: the rough sleeping snapshot for autumn 2022, and statutory homelessness data covering July-September 2022.
Across the North West Homelessness rose by 24% between Autumn 2021 and Autumn 2022. The data shows there was 247 people living on the streets across the region at the latest count but some local charities fear the true number is much higher.
We've been speaking with Jeff Marsh who runs the Foxton Centre in Preston City Centre.
He says:
"We had seen a decline in rough sleeping in Preston. It peaked in 2018 at 23 people and went down to just 6 in 2021, however last year saw quite a steep rise again, so that is quite worrying.
"We've been providing accommodation and support for far more people than we have done previously. We recently opened a day centre for the homeless. In it's first month of operation we saw 145 different individuals coming through, seeking help.
"In previous years there was a lot of COVID-related funding streams and interventions which made a lot more accommodation available, including the 'everyone-in' initiative' This last year, there's not been those interventions.
"Secondly, is affordability issues. The local rate for housing benefit hasn't increased for the last few years so hasn't kept pace with the rents that are being charged in the private sector.
This is the first time the government has reported an increase in rough sleeping since 2017.
Also released are new official data on statutory homelessness in England, which shows worrying trends in other forms of homelessness.
Temporary accommodation levels continue to grow – shockingly, 99,270 households were staying in temporary accommodation at the end of September 2022. This includes over 125,000 children.
The statutory data also shows that 72,320 households in England were facing homelessness between July-September 2022. Whilst this is a similar level to the previous year, there continues to be a high number of people facing homelessness because of a no-fault eviction notice: 6,170 households, an increase of 34% on the previous year.
The number of households in temporary accommodation is at its highest level in 18 years. The charity, Crisis, is calling for urgent investment in housing benefit rates, which have been frozen since 2019 while, last year, rents rose at their fastest rate for 16 years. Failing to do so, Crisis warns, will force thousands more people into homelessness.
Responding to the figures, Matt Downie, Crisis Chief Executive, said:
“These figures confirm the grim reality that the Westminster Government will fail to meet its commitment to end rough sleeping by next year. The fact that homelessness is once again on the rise is frankly shames our society and if alarms bells weren’t ringing across Government they should be now.
“Not only that, with almost 100,000 households stuck in temporary accommodation having been evicted from their homes, we’re on an extremely dangerous course. And with still no sign of the Renters’ Reform Bill, which would scrap ‘no fault’ evictions, many people are exposed, lacking what should be a basic legal protection.
“The Westminster Government needs to take urgent action if we’re going to avoid levels of homelessness reaching a national-scale crisis. Most importantly, the Chancellor absolutely must commit to investing in housing benefit in the upcoming budget. Failing to do so will consign thousands more people to homelessness.”