Number of homeless families housed in B&Bs rises 300% in five years
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Version 0 of 1. The number of homeless families housed in bed and breakfast accommodation has increased by more than 300% in the past five years, according to official figures that lay bare the impact of austerity cuts on housing for the most vulnerable families in England. By the end of March, 2,570 families were living in B&Bs, an increase of 35% since last year and a staggering 308% rise on the same date in 2010, when there were 630. The numbers living in B&Bs for more than six weeks more than doubled over the past year alone. Campaigners warned it showed that local authorities were running out of capacity to house families in need – a situation that will be made worse by the government’s £12bn welfare cuts. The official data, published on Wednesday by the Department for Communities and Local Government, revealed: Families or individuals are regarded as statutorily homeless if they are threatened with the loss of, or are unable to continue in, their home. If they are considered in urgent need, councils must step in to ensure they have a roof over their heads. But the squeeze on social housing stock caused by decades of the right to buy policy, a housing shortage in many regions, leading to soaring rents, and increasing numbers of people made destitute by benefit caps has left many councils unable to permanently rehouse families. More and more are being housed temporarily in accommodation that barely meets their needs. Shelter, the housing charity, said B&B accommodation for families often means parents and children live in a single room, with kitchens and bathrooms shared with other tenants. They can be left miles from their jobs, schools and support networks. Among the more than 15,000 families in “other private sector accommodation”, 13,620 were living in self-contained annexes. These are usually small units with everyone sleeping in one room, Shelter said. They may include a shower, a gas stove or electric hob, and a fridge, but little else. While figures have shown a more or less steady rise over the past five years, they are still dramatically lower than ten years ago. Shelter said councils have changed the way they deal with homeless families considerably, directing them through an alternative process called housing options before formally declaring them homeless. As a result, the official figures reveal just the tip of the iceberg. Prof Danny Dorling, of Oxford University, who has worked on housing issues, said: “There are lots of homeless families that never make it to be statutory homeless.” Dorling explained that councils are incentivised to rehouse families before they declare them statutorily homeless, usually redirecting them into private rented accommodation before the legal obligation comes into play. The situation is worse for single people and childless couples, Dorling said. They are all but unaccounted for by the official figures because councils rarely designate them as statutorily homeless, even if they are indeed homeless. “There are four ways in which you can be statutorily homeless, in which the most common is having a child,” Dorling said. “That’s why the vast bulk [of households in official statistics] are families with children. “As soon as you don’t have a child you are at the mercy of the gutter.” Dorling said the steady rise in the number of households being accepted as homeless was the result of a surge in renting since the financial crisis and resulting credit crunch, which left many people unable to get mortgage finance. He said: “It began with the crash because people still needed to move to London and the south-east to work, but they couldn’t buy a house, so they rented. When they rented, they pushed up the prices of housing. The rental market in the south-east used to mainly be young professionals, Dorling said. He continued: “Families are now having to rent privately. The way you are most likely to find yourself homeless with children is if you are evicted. It could be because you have failed to pay the rent, but it could also be because the landlord has put up the rent and wants a new tenant.” Shelter warned that with £12bn in cuts planned by the government, the situation was only likely to get worse. Campbell Robb, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Behind these figures are real families who’ve gone through the trauma of losing their home and are then left to linger in cramped and unfit B&B rooms, as overburdened councils struggle to find them anywhere that’s stable and affordable to live. “Further welfare cuts could make this a whole lot worse. If the government really wants to heal the housing crisis and bring down the benefits bill for good, the only solution is to invest in building homes that people on low incomes can actually afford.” Jon Sparkes, the chief executive of Crisis, the homelessness charity, warned that England was “sleepwalking into a homelessness crisis” because of the lack of affordable housing – or political will to fix the problem. He said: “We need decisive political action to fix our broken private rented sector, along with radical solutions to tackle the severe shortage of affordable homes. At the same time, we must have a safety net that genuinely protects tenants struggling to make ends meet.” Emma Reynolds, the shadow communities secretary, said: “It is simply disgraceful that in one of the richest countries in the world so many people are being made homeless. “Rising homelessness is the most tragic symptom of our growing housing crisis as more people struggle with rising housing costs and low pay. “Ministers appear unwilling to admit there is a problem because it is their policies that are to blame. David Cameron is presiding over the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s, a chronic shortage of affordable housing and soaring private rents. “The government needs to wake up and get a grip of the housing crisis and urgently bring forward a strategy to tackle rising homelessness and rough sleeping.” |