Number Of Families Becoming Homeless Increased By Nearly 30% Between Spring And Summer

Latest government statistics show that 8,150 households with children were owed a relief duty – meaning their council had assessed them as being homeless – between July and September 2020. That represents a 28% increase on the 6,380 households with children that were owed a relief duty between April and June. The increase was driven by a rise in the number of single-mother households becoming homeless, with 6,050 single-mother households being owed a relief duty between July and September, compared with 4,770 in the previous three months. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/number-of-families-becoming-homeless-increased-by-nearly-30-between-spring-and-summer-last-year-government-data-shows-69348?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Homeless Families Putting Budgets Under Strain, Say Councils

Growing numbers of homeless families and the increasing cost of putting them up in bed and breakfast hotels caused two-thirds of English local authorities to break their homelessness budgets last year, say councils. Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that councils collectively spent £663m on homelessness services in 2018-19 – a 28% overspend amounting to a £140m excess budget. It warned that local homelessness services were being pushed to “breaking point” by rising demand caused by a shortage of social housing and the gap between rents and housing benefit. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/29/homeless-families-putting-budgets-under-strain-say-councils

Council To Buy 70 Properties For Homeless Families

New homes for homeless families in Nottingham are on the way after a £9m scheme to buy 70 properties was revealed. Nottingham City Council will be loaning the money to Nottingham City Homes to finance the purchase and redevelopment of the properties. At present, 1,374 households are either homeless or have sought help from Housing Aid due to being at risk of becoming destitute with nowhere to live. Nottingham City Council may be legally obliged - following the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act in 2018 - to house more than 800 of these families in temporary accommodation. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/council-buy-70-properties-homeless-3568022

Council Taken To Court Over Allocation Scheme That ‘Removes Homeless Families From Housing Register’

A London council’s allocations scheme which is accused of “removing a very significant proportion of homeless people” from its social housing register is to be challenged in the High Court. Lambeth Council is being challenged over the lawfulness of its ‘Temp to Settled’ policy, which offers to assign a higher level of priority to homeless households on the social housing register if they withdraw their homeless application and move into private rented accommodation. However, those who have accepted this offer and moved outside the borough have then found themselves removed from the list due to the loss of a local connection. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/council-taken-to-court-over-allocation-scheme-that-removes-homeless-families-from-housing-register-64157?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Temporary Accommodation: Families – Parliamentary Written Answer

The Earl of Listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many families have been living in temporary accommodation in each of the last five years.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The following data refers to the number of households with children who were living in temporary accommodation on 31 March on each of the past 5 years.

·         31 March 2015: 51,210

·         31 March 2016: 56,430

·         31 March 2017: 60,980

·         31 March 2018: 61,610

·         31 March 2019: 62,010

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2019-10-24/HL406

Large Housing Association Scraps ‘Pointless’ Affordability Checks For New Tenants

One of the UK’s largest housing associations has scrapped ‘affordability testing’ for prospective tenants, deeming the process “pointless bureaucracy”. Sanctuary Group announced it was moving away from the process, which involves checking nominated households’ ability to pay the rent. The process has been controversial in the housing sector in recent years, with local authorities complaining that it makes it difficult to house homeless families on low or no incomes. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/large-housing-association-scraps-pointless-affordability-checks-for-new-tenants-63517?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Families Threaten Council With Legal Action Over Allocation Policy

A group of families is preparing to take a London council to court as they claim the authority’s housing allocation policy discriminates against homeless people.  The families, some of which claim to have been in temporary accommodation for more than 10 years, said the amount of time they have been left waiting for permanent accommodation in the borough of Camden is “indefensible”.

Camden Council denied that its policy is discriminatory and said it has met its statutory duty in all the families’ cases. However, the solicitor who is representing the families, said that the council’s allocation policy means many homeless families that are placed in temporary accommodation are “more or less stuck there indefinitely”. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/families-threaten-council-with-legal-action-over-allocation-policy--62973?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

New Homeless Families Outnumber New Social Homes By 8 To 1

Eight families are now accepted as homeless by their local council for every one new social home built in England, new analysis shows. The NHF bases the 8 to 1 outnumbering on its interpretation of latest homelessness statistics. Government figures show that 42,810 families were accepted as homeless in England last year, 117 families every day, with more than two thirds of these single parents. In comparison only 5,385 new social rent homes were built in the same period – equivalent to 14 per day. Read more on the NHF website.

https://www.housing.org.uk/blog/new-homeless-families-outnumber-new-social-homes-eight-fold-video-blog/

Ministers Urged To Halt Right-To-Buy

Ministers are facing calls to shelve the right-to-buy scheme after a devastating analysis revealed that more than 40% of council houses sold under its terms in London are now privately rented. The damning findings of an analysis of Freedom of Information data also show that:

•             Tens of millions of pounds are being paid by local authorities to rent former council homes in order to house growing numbers of homeless families;

•             Some councils have bought back their former homes at more than six times the amount they sold them for;

·         Hundreds of private landlords now own five or more right-to-buy properties. 

Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/19/ministers-urged-halt-right-buy-council-homes-rented

Families Facing Homelessness After Tycoon Issues Eviction Notices

Dozens of families are facing the risk of homelessness after receiving eviction notices from one of Britain’s biggest and most controversial buy-to-let tycoons. Fergus Wilson is giving 90 households in Ashford, Kent two months to get out after he decided to sell his 700 property portfolio in the county estimated to be worth more than £200m. He is expected to issue hundreds more evictions in the coming months before retiring to “take life easy”. Wilson started sending out the “no fault” eviction notices on Monday and has already been told by nine families with children under 10 that they have no chance of getting another property and could be left homeless. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/14/familes-facing-homelessness-after-tycoon-issues-eviction-notices

24,000 Homeless Families ‘Sent Miles From Local Area’

The number of homeless families forced to move away from their communities is at its highest for 20 years, as councils struggle to find accommodation for the growing numbers of people in need. According to official government figures, there were 23,640 families in temporary accommodation outside their local area in the second quarter of this year, the highest level in 20 years and more than double that recorded over the same period just five years ago. The new data has emerged amid rising anger over homelessness, with recent research showing that deaths among homeless people in England and Wales have increased every year since 2013, from 475 in 2014 to 597 last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/23/24000-homeless-families-sent-miles-from-local-area

Homeless Households In Temporary Accommodation Continue To Rise

Latest Government figures show that the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation continue to rise. On 31 December 2017 the number of households living in temporary accommodation was 78,930 - up 4% from 75,740 on 31 December 2016 and up by 64% on the low of 48,010 on 31 December 2010. However, the number of households accepted as being statutorily homeless in the quarter to 31 December 2017 was down 11% from 15,280 on the previous quarter and down 5% from 14,420 in the same quarter of 2016. See the full figures on the GovUK website.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/692938/Statutory_Homelessness_and_Prevention_and_Relief_Statistical_Release_Oct_to_Dec_2017.pdf

Councils Skirt Six-Week Rule For Homeless Families

Homeless families are being housed for protracted periods in council-owned properties in conditions that would be illegal if their temporary accommodation was privately owned. The law states that families should not be housed in non-self-contained temporary accommodation for more than six weeks, but if the property is owned or managed by a council, housing association or charity, it is exempt.  Freedom of Information Act requests to all 33 London boroughs revealed that 24 London councils own hostel-style accommodation and a further request showed that five  have used this accommodation to house families for longer than six weeks. Only eight councils were able to respond to this second request. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zCveUYhGSncJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-councils-skirt-six-week-rule-for-homeless-families-54132+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Government Actions A Further Step In Homeless Prevention

New guidance to make sure local authorities intervene earlier to help prevent families and individuals becoming homeless in the first place has been published. The guidance, which is subject to an 8-week consultation, sets out how local councils should implement the Homelessness Reduction Act, due to come into effect in April 2018. The new Act requires councils to provide services to all at risk of becoming homeless, on top of those with a priority need such as families with children and those who are vulnerable. Read more on the CLG website.

Number Of Homeless Families Being Moved From Local Area Doubles In Five Years

The number of homeless families being moved away from their local area has increased by 59% in last five years, according to a new report. Councils are relocating tenants in temporary accommodation that is further away due to rising rental costs, the study from BBC Radio 5 live’s Afternoon Edition revealed. Read more on the Metro website.

Homelessness Surges 34% Under Tory Government

The number of families being declared homeless has rocketed by more a third since the Conservatives took power in 2010, analysis of new official statistics has revealed.  Between April 2016 and March 2017, 59,100 families were declared homeless by local authorities in England – a rise of 34 per cent on the same period in 2010-11. The statistics paint a bleak picture of the UK housing crisis and the impact a lack of decent, affordable homes is having on thousands of families. There has been a 60 per cent increase in the number of families being housed in insecure temporary accommodation. Read more on the Independent website.

Councils 'Not Informed' When Receiving Homeless Londoners

Councils in south-east England say they are often not told when homeless families are sent to their areas by London boroughs who cannot house them. Some say they are not given crucial information about child-welfare concerns unless there were already formal child protection plans in place. Many councils say they are not told how many such families are in their patch, which is in breach of housing laws. More than 2,000 London homeless families were placed outside the capital in 2015-16, according to co-ordinating body London Councils - a threefold rise on the number three years earlier. Read more on the BBC.

Work Starts On Prefab Homeless Housing

Work is to begin on a temporary housing scheme for homeless families in Reading. The 28 prefabricated homes will provide emergency housing for people who would otherwise be forced to stay in bed and breakfast accommodation. Reading Borough Council said it had about 120 families staying in guest houses at the end of 2016. The development, on the site of a former mobile home park, will consist of seven timber-clad blocks of four units, two storeys high, a children's play area, car parking and bike sheds. Each unit will have two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen-diner and a living room. Read more on the BBC.

London Councils Trying To Force Homeless Families Out Of Capital

A handful of London councils are making aggressive use of legal powers to make “take or leave it” offers of housing in locations far away from the capital in an attempt to permanently resettle hundreds of homeless families. Officials are giving households 24 hours to accept private rented homes in the West Midlands, Essex and the south-east, warning that if they refuse the council will consider them to have become “intentionally homeless” and withdraw support. Research suggests half of offers made by 28 councils in locations in the West Midlands, more than 100 miles from London, are rejected, suggesting that many families are prepared to risk becoming homeless again rather than be uprooted from jobs and family support networks. Read more on the Guardian website.

Ministers To Reverse Universal Credit Policy For Homeless Families

Ministers are to bow to pressure to exclude homeless families from universal credit after it emerged that design flaws in the troubled new benefits system have triggered an explosion in rent arrears, costing council tax payers millions of pounds. Local authorities in London say rent collection levels for homeless tenants placed in emergency accommodation have collapsed following the introduction of the universal credit digital service last year. Croydon council says it faces an unpaid £2.5m rent bill this year as a result, and has warned ministers this scale of losses is unsustainable. It said the costs were leaving councils potentially unable to meet their statutory duties under homelessness law. Read more on the Guardian website.