Let them seek help, says Shapps, as homelessness rises

Grant Shapps has urged people at risk of losing their home to seek help early after official figures showed a rise in homelessness, while the charity Crisis has warned there is worse yet to come – and said the Government must shoulder some of the blame for weakening the welfare state.

Figures released yesterday for the second quarter of 2011 (April to June) showed that 11, 820 had been accepted as homeless by local authorities under their statutory homelessness duty – a rise of 17 per cent over the same quarter of 2010 and a three per cent rise on the first quarter of this year.
This is from a total of 25,890 assessment decisions taken by local authorities – a rise of 14 per cent over the same period.

There was one ray of sunshine for the Housing Minister, however, with the numbers of people in accommodation on 30 June 2011 showing a reduction of four per cent on the same period last year.
Faced with the rising level of homelessness, the Minister urged people to seek assistance at the earliest opportunity if they found themselves in difficulty. There is help available, he said. Councils have a duty to ensure that free housing advice and information is available. Local authorities may also be able to help them stay in their homes by providing budget and rent advice; help find out if households are eligible for any benefits to help with housing costs; and speaking to the landlord of those at risk of eviction or offering a rent bond to help them find alternative private accommodation.

The Minister also advised that people can talk to their mortgage lender, who may be able to change the terms of repayments to make them more affordable, or to independent charities such as Shelter, the National Debtline or CAB.

“While homelessness remains at a historic low, [the] figures underline how the effects of the worst recession for a generation continue to deliver difficult times for households up and down the country,” said Shapps. “But anyone facing financial difficulty or the prospect of losing their own home is not alone. There is help available and everything will be done to help people avoid homelessness: I urge anyone who thinks they may be at risk of losing their home to take action immediately and give themselves a greater chance of staying in it.”

However, the charity Crisis says that research undertaken on its behalf indicates there is much more homelessness yet to come. The report, ‘The Homelessness Monitor: Tracking the Impacts of Policy and Economic Change in England’, conducted by Herriot-Watt University and the University of York , warns that after years of stable or falling levels of homelessness, 2010 marked the turning point when homelessness in all its forms started to rise again.

The worse is yet to come, according to the report, and the Government’s radical reforms and its “weakening” of the welfare state will leave “many more people facing the threat or the reality of homelessness”, according to Crisis.

“The Coalition Government is dismantling the buffers against poverty and unemployment that have traditionally kept a roof over vulnerable households’ heads,” said Leslie Morphy, the charity’s chief executive. “Homelessness is rising and we fear cuts to housing benefit and housing budgets, alongside reforms in the Welfare Reform and Localism Bills will cause it to increase yet further. We need the Government to change course now or risk returning us to the days of countless lives facing the debilitating effects of homelessness.”

Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick of the Institute for Housing, Urban and Real Estate Research at Herriot-Watt University led the research. She said: “International evidence indicates that strong welfare and housing systems are vital in mitigating the impact of difficult economic circumstances on people vulnerable to homelessness. So the Government’s reforms in combination with the pressures of the economic downturn seem certain to increase all forms of homelessness, from rough sleepers on our streets to homeless people hidden out of sight.”

The research claims that pressure is building “from all sides” on vulnerable households. The economic downturn and rising unemployment will have “lagged but crucial” impact through the strain placed on families and relationships – with relationship breakdown being a major driver for homelessness. The report suggests that at the same time, housing market pressures are squeezing out many low-income households, with “highly-constrained” access to home ownership for first-time buyers increasing demands on the rental sectors, but the levels of lettings available in the social rented sector are much lower than in the past.

To add to these matters, Crisis says the research also highlights how Government reforms, particularly a range of cuts to housing benefit and changes to housing policy, will “weaken protection that has until now usually broken the link between unemployment, poverty and homelessness”. They are also restricting access to the private rented sector for low income households while investment in building new social housing stock has been halved.