Urgent emergency action is needed to tackle homelessness, demands London Councils

The cross-party group has announced there are new homelessness figures showing a dire need for ‘emergency action’ regarding the worsening crisis in the capital.

According to government statistics, which were published last week, there are 101,300 households that are in temporary accommodation – the highest figure since 2005 – and considering London accounts for two-thirds of England’s temporary accommodation total, the number of homeless people in London is equivalent to the population of a city such as Oxford.

Supporting this, surveys conducted across boroughs in London found there are 166,000 homeless people in the region.

As a result of these shocking statistics, London Councils is now urging the government to take immediate action. This includes raising peoples local housing allowance, boosting homelessness prevention grant funding, increasing discretionary housing payments, and bringing forward a cross-departmental strategy to reduce homelessness.

Cllr Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ Executive Member for Regeneration, Housing and Planning, said: ‘These figures are the latest evidence of a homelessness crisis spiralling out of control.

‘The situation is particularly bad in London due to the combination of cost-of-living pressures, a chronic shortage of affordable housing, and with rising rents and fewer properties available in the private rented sector.

‘Boroughs do everything we can to support homeless households, but things cannot go on as they are. Homelessness has a devasting impact on people experiencing it, particularly children, and also leads to unsustainable pressure on council budgets.

‘Emergency action is needed from the government to help households avoid homelessness and to reduce the number in temporary accommodation.’

However, it is not just London Councils that are calling for more to be done since the government released their harrowing homelessness figures. Charities such as Shelter and Crisis have also spoken out.  

Image: Nick Fewings