Norfolk housing trust calls for 90k new social homes to be built every year until 2033
It's after the Kerslake Commission found that rough sleeping has increased by more than quarter since 2021
Last updated 26th Sep 2023
A housing trust in Norfolk is calling for 90 thousand social homes to be built every year, for the next decade.
It's after the Kerslake Commission found that rough sleeping has increased by more than quarter, since 2021.
They also say this suggests the Government won't meet it's target of ending homelessness in England, by next year.
In spite of this, St Martin's in Norwich are claiming that the city's bucking the trend, with their last 'street count' showing a 30% decrease.
They say there are now just seven people thought to be on the streets of Norfolk's only city.
"People die on the streets in the winter"
Jan Sheldon is from St Martins: "The fact that the number is going up nationally is a huge concern, especially as we are coming up to the coldest part of the year.
"People die on the streets in the winter, it's as simple as that. It's also more dangerous on the street as people are more likely suffer violence or abuse than you or I are."
"We need to focus more on prevention work"
She told us what needs to be done: "We need to focus more on prevention work. We need more support for those with poor mental health and addiction problems. Early intervention is far better than somebody ending up in a crisis situation".
"The only thing that's going to solve the issue of rough-sleeping is to have more social housing, available. We know that we need 90 thousand more homes built every year for the next ten years to build our way out of this."
What does the government say?
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities said the Government is "focused on ending rough sleeping for good", spending £2 billion "to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in the areas that need it most".
They said "significant progress" had been made "with over 640,000 households prevented from becoming homeless or supported into settled accommodation since 2018".
What does Labour say?
Shadow homelessness minister Mike Amesbury said "This report provides a sobering assessment of rising homelessness driven by a chronic shortage of decent, secure and affordable housing after 13 years of Tory failure.
"A toxic mix of rising rents, the cost-of-living crisis and a failure to end no-fault evictions are hitting vulnerable people."