Call For MPs To Back New Homelessness Law

Homelessness charity Crisis is urging MPs of all parties to back a new law intended to make sure all homeless people can get the help they need. The proposed law to prevent and tackle homelessness early draws on the recommendations of a panel of leading experts and has already received the backing of MPs, councils and the homelessness sector. If passed, such a law would help to end the “longstanding injustice” which means single homeless people can be turned away when they ask their council for help, Crisis said. Academics have estimated that such a law is likely to require an additional £43.9 million for preventing and tackling homelessness early, although this would be offset by a £46.8 million reduction in spending on people who are already homeless. Read more on Housing Excellence.

Charities Call For Action Over Homelessness In England

Significant numbers of homeless people have no right to adequate help in England even if they are sleeping rough, campaigners say. The group, including homelessness and housing charities and lawyers, wants councils to be forced to act sooner to stop people ending up on the streets. English councils only have to rehouse people faced with losing their homes who are judged to be "priority" cases. The government is considering changing the law. Single homeless, healthy adults without children, and who are not pregnant or vulnerable, do not generally fall into the priority category. They can be offered nothing more than advice. Charities say sometimes they are given a leaflet, or simply turned away. Read more on the BBC website.

Homeless Charity Earns Agency £5.5m

A letting agency has been paid more than £5.5m in housing benefit after its owner set up a charity to help the homeless. Investing Solutions received those benefit payments over the past two years by finding properties for single homeless men. The charity, Fresh Start Housing, finds clients from London homeless charities. Neither the charity nor the company act illegally. Investing Solutions said "the bulk" of their rents get passed to private landlords, while Fresh Start said they referred clients to both Investing Solutions and private landlords. The letting agent makes money by putting several unrelated people in one house and charging housing benefit for each person, rather than the property. Therefore, the total benefit payout is higher than the rent fee passed on to the property's landlord. Read more on the BBC website.

Charities Call For Review of Homelessness Help

Charities have written to party leaders calling for them to review the help given to single homeless people. The letter, signed by the chief executives of five homelessness charities and umbrella group Homeless Link, calls on the party leaders to treat the review as a ‘priority’, saying single homeless people often receive insufficient support. Under current laws, single homeless people are only entitled to support if they are judged to be in priority need. This, say the charities is leading to homeless people being turned away by councils without receiving support. Read more on Inside Housing.

Homeless Being Let Down as Rough Sleeping Rises Again

Homeless charities have called for changes in the law after latest official figures showed a 15% rise in the number of people sleeping rough on the streets. Some 2,774 people were recorded as having slept rough in England in 2014, up from 2,414 the previous year. This is the fourth successive increase since 2010. Rough sleeping was most prevalent in London, where recorded instances rose by 37% last year. The figures, which will be the last before May’s general election, show that rough sleeping has increased by 55% in England, and 79% in London, since the coalition took power. Read more on the Crisis website.