The charity warned the UK has entered a ‘catastrophic scenario’ in which councils and housing associations can no longer meet demands for affordable homes.
Chief Executive of Crisis, Matt Downie, said the charity would launch a fundraising campaign to buy its own housing stock after struggling to access social housing for homeless people.
Speaking to The Guardian – who were first to break this story – Downie said: ‘We don’t want to do this, but if nobody else is going to provide housing, we’ll do it ourselves.
‘It’s something that would have been inconceivable for my predecessors 10, 30, 50 years ago, because people would have expected both councils and housing associations to provide the stock needed for people on low incomes. It’s just no longer available.’
Today (10th November) Crisis published new research which shows almost 300,000 households and individuals in England are facing the most acute forms of homelessness including rough sleeping. staying in tents or squats, or living in temporary accommodation such as hostels or B&Bs.
The study was led in partnership with Heriot-Watt University and outlines the number of people facing extreme homelessness in 2024 increased by 21% since 2022 and 45% since 2012.
What’s more, homelessness among people discharged from hospitals, prisons and other institutions rose by 22% in the past year, while evictions from asylum accommodation increased by 37%.
Against this backdrop, Crisis has already launched its own lettings agency to help people find private rentals and now plans to provide social housing directly, beginning in London and Newcastle. Within its first phase, the charity aims to acquire at least 1,000 properties.
Alongside supplying homes, Crisis are also calling on the government to deliver its promised national homelessness strategy by Christmas and raise housing benefits to reflect actual rent levels.
The news has come after the government pledged £39bn to build 180,000 social homes over the next 10 years, but Downie warned that without ‘cast-iron guarantees’ on delivery, the crisis would deepen.
‘It’s really worrying to see more and more people have concluded that you can make money out of making people and keeping people homeless,’ he said. ‘The cost of temporary accommodation is astronomical but the fact that a lot of that money is going into the hands of people that are effectively exploiting the situation is really a disgrace.’
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