Leading housing charity warns London remains an ‘epicentre’ for homelessness

Shelter has published a report claiming homelessness in the capital city is facing alarmingly higher rates than anywhere else in England.

Published today, London Councils has responded to a report by Shelter, a housing charity, which states one in 58 people in London is homeless.

Cllr Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ Executive Member for Regeneration, Housing and Planning, said: ‘These devasting figures reveal that London remains the epicentre of the homelessness crisis.

‘Everyone deserves a permanent home, but the chronic shortage of affordable housing in the capital means too many Londoners find themselves homeless and reliant temporary accommodation arranged by their local council.

‘The numbers are so high they are equivalent to the entire population of a London borough.’

The local authorities are calling on the government to make urgent changes to national policy, warning the issue will get ‘even worse’ amid the cost-of-living crisis, while Shelter says it is bracing for a ‘sharp rise’ in homelessness in 2023.

Using Freedom of Information Requests, government statistics and data from the membership charity Homeless Link, Shelter found the capital cities homelessness rate last year was three times higher than that of England as a whole, which stood at one in 208.

London’s high rate of homelessness contrasts more starkly to that in the North-East, which came out as having the lowest rates of homelessness last year with one in 2,118 people.

Against this backdrop, London Councils is demanding for changes to be made to national housing and homelessness charity.

This includes an increase in the local Housing Allowans (LHA) to improve support for low-income households in the private rented sector struggling to meet their housing costs.

Additionally, the authority is calling for long-term investment in affordable housing, particularly in homes for social rent; and to ensure London boroughs’ homelessness services are well funded.

In their report, Shelter revealed the use of temporary accommodation has risen by an ‘alarming’ 74% in the last ten years, which the charity have said has resulted from a ‘chronic shortage’ of social homes.

Polly Neate, Shelter Chief Executive, said: ‘The new year should be a time of hope, but this isn’t the case for the 271,000 homeless people who are facing a truly bleak 2023.

‘A cold doorway or a grotty hostel room is not a home, but this is reality for too many people today.

‘Our frontline advisers are working tirelessly to help people who are desperate to escape homelessness – from the parents doing all they can to provide some shred of a normal family life while stuck in an emergency B&B, to the person terrified of another night sleeping rough.’

Photo by Henry Be and Jon Tyson