Rough sleeping up by a fifth in a year, ‘shameful’ snapshot estimates show
Campaigners welcomed emergency funding but said long-term investment is needed.
Rough sleeping in England has risen by a fifth in a year, according to new snapshot estimates branded “devastating and shameful”.
The latest figures came as separate data showed a record high for both households and children in temporary accommodation – a form of homelessness.
There were an estimated 4,667 people sleeping on the streets on a single night in autumn last year, according to annual Government statistics.
This was an increase of 769 people – or 20% – on the previous year’s snapshot estimate of 3,898.
The latest figure is more than twice the number since the estimates – the latest of which are based on a single date in October or November chosen by local authorities – began being recorded in 2010, when it was 1,768.
While the latest figure remains just below the peak in 2017- when it stood at 4,751 – it is the third year in a row the number has risen.
Earlier this week the Government announced it was doubling emergency homelessness funding for councils in England to £60 million, but the national membership body for frontline homelessness charities urged a “wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding”.
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: “It is beyond devastating and shameful that our society has allowed thousands upon thousands of people to face the trauma of sleeping rough across this country.”
The organisation blamed “a welfare system unfit for purpose, an acute shortage of truly affordable housing, extremely over-stretched homelessness, health and social care services and a disconnect between government policies – from hospitals and prisons discharging people onto the streets to people leaving the asylum system with nowhere to live”.
Mr Henderson added: “Homeless Link is calling for a wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding that can enable support to be turned on its head.
“We desperately need a more efficient and effective funding approach that can drive a system rooted in preventing people’s homelessness and provide support to make sure that everyone has a home and the help they need to keep it.”
Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord John Bird said the latest rise is “simply unacceptable” and described rough sleeping as “our nation’s biggest source of shame”.
He said while higher spend on emergency funding is welcome “it must not be mistaken for a solution to this crisis”, adding that “clever thinking, long-term investment, and collaboration on a huge scale” are needed.
Separate figures published on Thursday showed the number of children in temporary accommodation hit a record high of 164,040 as of the end of September.
The number has risen 15% in a year and is the highest since records for this measure began in 2004.
The number of households in temporary accommodation was also at a record high of 126,040, having increased 16% in a year.
There were 5,400 households with children living in bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) by the end of September last year – a rise of 15% in a year.
Some 3,470 households with children had been in B&Bs for more than the six-week limit.
By law, B&Bs are meant to be used only for families in an emergency, and for no longer than six weeks.
The charity Shelter said children are being “robbed of stability in temporary accommodation, crammed into B&Bs and hostels without any space to sleep, play or do their homework” while Crisis said the figures show young people are “growing up in unsafe conditions, restricting life chances and trapping people in poverty across generations”.
The figures came as the Local Government Association (LGA) said funding changes mean councils have up to £76 million less to spend on temporary accommodation for households facing homelessness compared with last year.
It said while it is “right that the Government has increased its focus on prevention and relief of homelessness”, what it described as a “sudden shift in funding allocation” has increased the financial pressure faced by councils at a time when costs of temporary accommodation are soaring.
Adam Hug, LGA housing spokesman, said: “An uprating of the temporary accommodation subsidy is desperately needed to address the significant and growing cost pressures faced by councils.”
On Tuesday an extra £30 million in emergency funding was announced for councils in England to help keep people at risk of eviction in their homes and support rough sleepers off the streets.
The money was allocated after Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said remaining funds in her department should be directed towards tackling homelessness, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.
The announcement amounted to a doubling of a previously-announced £30 million for winter pressures funding for homelessness.
Asked about the record high number of children in temporary accommodation, a Downing Street spokesman said: “It is totally unacceptable that so many children are waking up in temporary accommodation.
“We’ve addressed this before, a minister previously has described it as inheriting a homelessness crisis, and it’s absolutely crucial that we do tackle it, and that’s what our Plan for Change is all about.”
