What’s behind the record homelessness figures?

The Briefing Room

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.8 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Housing charity Shelter’s latest figures show that homelessness has risen rapidly in the last year. In England, 279,400 people are living in temporary accommodation - an increase of 14% - most of whom are families. And the government’s own figures reveal that almost half (47%) of families who are homeless in temporary accommodation have been there for more than two years. Councils have a legal duty to house families and people who are vulnerable if they lose their homes, but the acute shortage of affordable homes means they are having to rely on temporary accommodation for long periods. So what can be done to fix the growing numbers who find themselves homeless?

David Aaronovitch is joined by the following expert guests: Christine Whitehead, Housing Economist, London School of Economics Rachelle Earwaker, Senior Economist, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Matthew Wilkins, Head of Value for Money, Centre for Homelessness Impact

Production team: Kirsteen Knight, Alex Lewis and Sophie Eastaugh Production Co-ordinators: Jacqui Johnson and Sophie Hill Sound: Rod Farquhar Editor: Richard Vadon

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:09.0	The campaigning group's latest figures, generally regarded as reliable,
0:14.3	show that homelessness has risen rapidly in the last year.
0:18.3	In England alone, there's been an increase of 14% in people housed in temporary
0:23.4	accommodation. The figure stands at just under 280,000. We talk a lot about the problem of rough
0:30.7	sleeping, rightly, but farless attention goes to this bigger and growing problem of homelessness
0:36.4	with all its consequences for individuals,
0:39.4	families and communities. So why is homelessness on the rise in the UK? What were its drivers?
0:46.1	What might be done about it? Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out.
1:01.3	First, let's take a look at those numbers. Michael Buchanan is the BBC's social affairs correspondent.
1:07.0	Michael Buchanan, what do we mean when we talk about homelessness figures? Who are we talking about?
1:11.2	Well, the most visible form of homelessness is rough sleeping, and these are people that we see sleeping out on the streets of the UK. But in England, there are typically estimated to be about
1:17.1	3,000 rough sleepers per night, although most of the charity say that's a huge underestimation,
1:23.4	but that's what the government's official data suggests. But the much bigger group of people who are classed as homeless are people living in temporary accommodation.
1:32.5	And these are people who, in the most cases, have been living in the private sector.
1:36.6	The landlord has asked them to leave for a variety of reasons, most often because the landlord wants to sell the property, asks the tenants to leave, the tenants
1:45.1	look for somewhere else, they can't afford someone else, so they go to the local authority.
1:49.0	And if the local authority deems that they have a duty to help them, then the local authority
1:53.5	will help them to find other accommodation.
1:56.8	And the latest data suggests that in England, there are 105,000 households living in temporary accommodation.
2:05.8	That's a record number of households. Shelter the charity have done some calculations.
2:09.8	And they think that that equates to around just under 280,000 people in England living in temporary accommodation.
	...

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