Thousands of working people homeless in the North West
It has been revealed by the Salvation Army
It's been revealed that nearly 6,000 people across the North West are homeless, despite having a job.
That includes:
- 182 people in the city of Liverpool
- 925 people in the city of Manchester
- 109 people in Preston
- 482 people across Cheshire
- 222 people in Stoke-on-Trent
60% of the 5,829 people who are working homeless across the North West are in full-time work, with the rest part-time.
The Salvation Army estimates that, from April 2023 to March 2024, 56,242 UK workers were registered as homeless, with 32,138 of them in full-time employment
The charity believes these figures are an under-estimate, as not everyone who is homeless and working will register with their local authority.
Andrew Connell, policy manager for the Salvation Army, said:
"It's something that my colleagues who are actually working with, people who are experiencing homelessness, have noticed that they're increasingly working with people who are working, who are in paid work of some kind.
"But it was only when we went and had a look at the official government statistics and made some estimates of the gross numbers that it really hit us how big an issue this was. We think that about one in five of people who are actually homeless in the North West of England are in work full time or part time or part time, which is a shockingly high figure.
"It shouldn't be that way"
"It shouldn't be that way and it's something that we need to find out more about. The first message that we can take from this is that there simply aren't enough homes that people can afford to live in, even though they might be working - and that's because of things like rent levels. It's because of things like the limited supply of social housing. Now some of those things are beginning to change, but still, they're not changing quickly enough.
One man, aged 46 and from Blackpool, spent five months living in a tent while doing a bar staff job.
He relied on the Salvation Army to shower, wash his clothes, and to get food.
He said:
"There is a big misconception of people thinking those who are sleeping rough are unemployed; this simply isn’t always the case. I was working, earning a living, but I just couldn’t save the money to get a place to stay. Living in a tent you feel worthless. I kept myself hidden in the deepest parts of the park. Each morning, I would get up for work and go to do my shift, leaving everything in my tent. I’ve worked all my life, and I was still working but didn’t have anywhere to go. It was tough to accept, and I had pride.
"Working with the public it was important to dress the part and be well presented. I couldn’t let anyone know where I was living so I would go to The Salvation Army to wash and they gave me toiletries to use and towels and a hot breakfast, so I was ready for my working day, and no one would have guessed where I had slept.
"Living in a tent in a park you obviously don’t have cooking facilities so takeaways every night soon racks the costs up. As I worked within hospitality, I was sometimes able to get fed at work, but on the days that I wasn’t working it was incredibly tough. I would also accept lifts home from work if I had no money, but I would get my colleagues to drop me off on the main road, near where I used to live so they thought I was going back there. When they had driven off, I would walk to the park and back to my tent."