Number of rough sleepers up by 134% as Tories accused of ‘light touch’ approach to tackling homelessness

Government condemned for failing to tackle crisis as figures show 73 per cent more children are homeless than in 2010

A homeless person sleeps on the steps of Federal Hall in Wall Street (Reuters)

The number of rough sleepers in the UK has soared by 134 per cent since the Tories took power, new figures show, prompting accusations from the Government spending watchdog that ministers have failed to tackle the problem.

A damning report by the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that there had been a 60 per cent rise in households in temporary accommodation over the last six years, affecting 120,540 children – 73 per cent more youngsters than were made homeless in March 2011.

An autumn snapshot survey last year recorded 4,134 rough sleepers – marking an increase of 134 per cent since the Tory-led coalition took power in 2010 – while the number of homeless families approaching councils and being assessed as entitled to temporary accommodation rose by 48 per cent to 59,090.

Despite the worsening crisis – branded a “national scandal” by opposition MPs – the Government has continued with a “light touch” approach that cannot be considered value for money, according to the report.

All forms of homelessness have increased “significantly” and are costing more than £1bn a year to deal with, the NAO states, with the ending of private sector tenancies having become the main cause of homelessness in England, showing a threefold increase in numbers since 2010/11.

Government measures are believed to have exacerbated the problem, with the report stating that local housing allowance reforms are “likely to have contributed” to making tenancies for claimants less affordable and “are an element of the increase in homelessness”.

Rents have gone up at the same time as household incomes from benefits have been cut, with rent costs across England up by three times as much wages, except in the North and the East Midlands.

In an indication of the soaring renting costs in the capital, private sector rents in London have gone up by 24 per cent since 2010 – eight times the average rise in earnings.

Local councils have had to foot the bill for the soaring levels of homelessness, with most of the £1.1bn spent on housing people in 2015/16 going on temporary accommodation, up by 39 per cent in real terms since 2010/11 – from £606m to £845m.

Alarmingly, over the same period, spending on other services, such as prevention, support and administration, fell by 9 per cent – from £334m to £303m.

The NAO found nine in 10 households in temporary accommodation that have been housed outside their council area were placed there by a London authority, with councils in the capital buying up properties in towns such as Bexley, Luton and Medway to house homeless families.

The report states: “It appears likely that the decrease in affordability of properties in the private rented sector, of which welfare reforms such as the capping of local housing allowance are an element, have driven this increase in homelessness.

“Despite this, the Government has not evaluated the impact of its welfare reforms on homelessness, or the impact of the mitigations that it has put in place.”

Responding to the findings, shadow secretary of state for housing John Healey said the report should “shame” the Government, and claimed government policy decisions were “directly responsible” for the rise in homelessness under the Tories.

“This report from the Government’s spending watchdog should shame ministers. When this Government fails, rising homelessness will be on its political tombstone. The increase in homelessness since 2010 is visible in almost every town and city in the country but today’s report shows ministers haven’t even bothered to draw up a proper plan to deal with it,” he said.

“After an unprecedented decline in homelessness under Labour, government policy decisions are directly responsible for the rise in homelessness. You can’t help the homeless without the homes, and ministers have driven new affordable house building to a 24-year low.”

Labour’s Meg Hillier, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said: “It is a national scandal that more and more people are made homeless every year. This reports illustrates the very real human cost of the Government’s failure to ensure people have access to affordable housing.

“The Department for Communities and local government’s ‘light touch’ approach clearly isn’t working. Its plans for the future merely seem to shift more responsibility and cost to local authorities at a time when they are already stretched.”

Shedding light on the burden the homelessness issue is putting on local authorities, the Local Government Association's housing spokesman Cllr Martin Tett said: “Homelessness is a tragedy, as a settled home is crucial to health and wellbeing for individuals and families, and is a central cornerstone of successful communities.

“Rising homelessness is a huge challenge for councils, which are having to house the equivalent of an extra secondary school’s worth of homeless children in temporary accommodation every month. The net cost to councils of doing this has tripled in the last three years, as they plug the gap between rising rents and frozen housing benefit.

“Councils are working hard to tackle homelessness and are focusing on preventing it happening. We now need the Government to support this local effort, by allowing councils to invest in building genuinely affordable homes and providing the support and resources they need to help prevent people becoming homeless in the first place.”

Polly Neate, chief executive of homeless charity Shelter, called for a “whole new approach” to the way homes are built so that developers’ profits are not prioritised above the needs of homeless people.

“Every rise in house prices is bad news for millions of families struggling to find a home of their own. And this will continue to be the case so long as we have a house building system that puts big developers’ profits above people,” she said.

“The only way to bring house prices back within reach of ordinary people is to take a whole new approach to the way we build homes, which drastically reduces the cost of land.”

Auditor general Sir Amyas Morse accused the Government of leaving “gaps” in its approach to homelessness, saying it had failed to evaluate the impact of its housing reforms.

“Homelessness in all its forms has significantly increased in recent years, driven by several factors. Despite this, Government has not evaluated the impact of its reforms on this issue, and there remain gaps in its approach,” he said.

“It is difficult to understand why the department persisted with its light touch approach in the face of such a visibly growing problem. Its recent performance in reducing homelessness therefore cannot be considered value for money.

A Government spokesperson said: “Tackling homelessness is a complex issue with no single solution, but this Government is determined to help the most vulnerable in society make sure people always have a roof over their head.

“That is why we are investing £550m to 2020 to address the issue and implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act. This Act will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.

“This Government is committed to ensuring people always have a roof over their heads which is why we’ve committed to eliminating rough sleeping entirely. There’s more to do and ministers will set out plans shortly.”