Ministers under fire as new figures show 15,000 families will be homeless over Christmas
2 min read
The number of homeless families has risen by almost 1,000 over the past three months leaving 15,000 with no permanent home over the festive period, according to new figures.
The news comes just a day after Jeremy Corbyn branded the Government’s record on homelessness a “national disgrace”.
The number of households living in temporary accommodation has increased by 6% on the year and is 65% higher than it was in 2010.
There are now over 120,000 children without a permanent home – up 70% since 2010.
Yesterday, the Labour leader blasted the Prime Minister over the Conservative’s record on housing and called on Mrs May to commit to reverse the trend of rising homelessness from next year.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Corbyn said: “When it comes to housing, this government has been an absolute disgrace.
“After seven years, more people are living on the streets, more families in temporary accommodation, more families in homes not fit for human habitation and fewer people owning their own home…
“Will the Prime Minister pledge today that 2018 will be the year when homelessness starts to go down?”
On the number of homeless children, he added: “It is a national disgrace and it is getting worse.”
Mrs May hit back by attacking the previous Labour government’s record.
“Under Labour – housebuilding down, homes bought and sold down, social housing down,” she said.
“I’ll tell him, one thing did go up under the last Labour government: the number of people on the social housing waiting list – 1.74 million people waiting for a home under a Labour government.”
Reacting to today’s figures, Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said: “The scale of rising homelessness should shame all of us, and Conservative ministers most of all.”
The chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, Jon Sparkes, added: “Knowing that nearly 80,000 households will find themselves homeless and living in temporary accommodation this Christmas is nothing short of a tragedy.
"Temporary accommodation is often cramped, unsuitable, and sometimes even dangerous, and no place for anyone to call home."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
