Majority Of Councils Struggling To Find Homeless Housing

The majority of councils in England are struggling to find permanent housing for homeless people, a new report from Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has revealed. Out of 186 councils surveyed 70% said they had difficulties finding social housing for homeless people last year, while 89% reported struggling to find private rented accommodation. The problem of rising homelessness is not limited to London, with only 40% of councils in London reporting the number of people seeking help had risen during the past year compared with 76% in the Midlands, 70% in the south and 62% in the north. Download the Homeless Monitor 20118 from the Crisis website.

https://www.crisis.org.uk/media/238700/homelessness_monitor_england_2018.pdf

Private Rental Sector Insecurity 'Causes Surge In Homelessness'

"Chronic" insecurity in the private rented sector in England has led to a fourfold increase since 2010 in the number of households forced into homelessness when tenancies end. Loss of a private tenancy is now the leading cause of homelessness in England, with the 16,000 households affected making up around a third of the 54,000 accepted as homeless by councils in 2014/15, the annual Homelessness Monitor by the charity Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found. They warned that local authorities were "struggling to cope" with rising numbers of single homeless people, with 88% saying they often or sometimes find it difficult to help those aged 25-35 and 87% those aged 18-24. Two-thirds of English councils reported that changes to the welfare system under the coalition government from 2010-15 had increased homelessness in their area. Read more on the BT website.

So, Rent Controls Will Drive ‘Three Out Of Five Landlords’ Out Of The Market?

What an unhappy coincidence that on the day the Residential Landlords Association chose to bleat about Labour’s planned rent controls, the private rented sector was fingered as one of the main reasons for the growth in the numbers of homeless families. The latest Homelessness Monitor, published by Crisis, shows that losing a private tenancy now accounts for almost one-third of official homelessness cases and is the reason behind most of the recent growth in caseloads. Private sector rent levels are also helping to drive up homelessness because they are often too high to be eligible for housing benefit.  Read more on the Red Brick blog.

Homelessness Much Worse Than Headline Figures Show

New independent research published by Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals the true scale of homelessness in England. The Homelessness Monitor: England 2015 shows how official homelessness figures are masking the true scale of the problem, with 280,000 cases of people facing homelessness last year – a 9% rise not reflected in the headline statistics. Read more on the Crisis website.

Almost One In Ten People Have Been Homeless

Nine per cent of adults in England have experienced homelessness at some point in their life, research has revealed. The findings are from state-of-the nation report The Homelessness Monitor: England – an independent study published annually by Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that analyses the impact on homelessness of economic and policy developments. England has the highest rate of homelessness of all the UK countries with 9% of adults saying they have been homeless and 2.2% saying this happened in the last five years, new analysis for the study found. Young adults, people of black or mixed ethnicities and those from deprived areas were more likely to have been homeless. Homelessness has risen for three consecutive years.  Download a copy of the report from the Crisis website.

The Homelessness Monitor 2011-2015

The homelessness monitor is a five year study that will provide an independent analysis of the impact on homelessness of recent economic and policy developments in England. The key areas of interest are the homelessness consequences of the post-2007 economic recession and the housing market downturn. The other main thrust of inquiry is the likely impacts of the welfare, housing and other social policy reforms, including cutbacks in public expenditure. This year 2 report tracks the baseline account of homelessness established in 2011, and analyses key trends following that period. It also highlights emerging trends and forecasts some of the likely changes, identifying the developments likely to have the most significant impacts on homelessness.  Download either a summary or the full report from the Crisis website.