Did you know that 250,000 people live in Newcastle? Newcastle’s a pretty big place, isn’t it? Likewise, if you had 300,000 Instagram followers you’d say that’s a lot of Instagram followers, right? You’d be fairly well-known by that point. Well, if those numbers mean a lot to you, then those numbers should mean even more when you read housing charity Shelter’s latest findings: 307,000 Britons are officially recorded as homeless.
This figure is 13,000 higher than it was last year, and means that one in 200 people living in England are homeless. Though a shocking many people are living on the streets, legally homeless people may also live in night shelters, hostels, and refuges.
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The report, Far From Alone: Homelessness in Britain in 2017, combined rough-sleeping, temporary accommodation and social services figures to reach 307,000. If this is bad enough, there are also thousands more people who Shelter aim to help, such as those living in overcrowded or poor conditions, facing eviction or violence and abuse in the home.
Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter told The Debrief: ‘On a daily basis, we speak to hundreds of people and families who are desperately trying to escape the devastating trap of homelessness. A trap that is tightening thanks to decades of failure to build enough affordable homes and the impact of welfare cuts.
‘As this crisis continues to unfold, the work of our frontline services remains absolutely critical. We will do all we can to make sure no-one is left to fight homelessness on their own. But we cannot achieve this alone; we urgently need the public’s support to be there for everyone who needs us right now.
The report also found that in England, over a third of people housed in temporary accommodation will see no change in their circumstances by next year. That’s a year living in, say, a B&B.
The proportion of homeless people in London rises to 1 in 60, and then to one in 25 in the worst UK borough for homelessness: Newham, east London. In fact, just last week, a man was discovered to be renting the space under the stairs in a house for £250 a month. The two-storey home also had six people sharing a one-bed room thanks to three bunk-beds (and, we guess, one seriously lousy landlord). Thirteen people were living in the home altogether, council staff suspect.
London contains the top four slots in the rankings of 50 boroughs where homeless is most prevalent - wahoo! In Haringey, one in 29 people are homeless, in Westminster it’s one in 31 and in Enfield it’s one in 33. Other bleak areas for homelessness prevalence are Luton, where it’s one in 52, Birmingham (one in 88) and Manchester (one in 154).
London Mayor Sadiq Khan hasn’t commented on this yet, but he has recently announced the London Living Wage of £10.20 per hour, that’s a salary of about £18,549 for a 35 hour week, and might help more people afford expensive accommodation. But the question remains: how can accommodation be made cheaper?
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government said it’s giving more home-building powers to local authorities and is investing £950 million by 2020 into tackling homelessness. They told the BBC: ‘We are determined to tackle all forms of homelessness, which includes making sure people in temporary accommodation are getting support to keep a roof over their heads.’
If you’d like to help homeless people out, check out the great work that Shelter is doing.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.