Homelessness Due to Double by 2041

Every day 150 families in Britain become homeless, numbers are expected to double by 2041 with over 392,400 homeless in Great Britain according to Crisis.

The research led by Heriot-Watt University for Crisis reveal that the number of people sleeping in the street might increase from 9,100 last year to 28,900 in 2036, or in other words more than triple.

The study argues against Government statistics which claimed there were only 4,134 people rough sleeping in 2016, half the estimation of Crisis.

Not limited to rough sleeping – people living in the street, homelessness also includes people temporarily staying with friends or family or staying in a hostel or night shelter, but who have no legal rights to the place they’re living in.

Another study carried by the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reports that new homelessness cases in England have already doubled since 2010, councils have esteemed about 59,090 households as homeless and in 'priority' need of housing in 2016/17 in comparison to 40,020 in 2009/10.

Source: Heriot-Watt University, Crisis

One of the reason the numbers keep increasing is the availability and crisis of affordability in accessible housing, the rented sector has kept increasing over the past years along with the prices of the private rented sector.

In combination with the housing benefit cuts over the last two years, many people are left in a precarious situation unable to pay their rent and facing eviction.

With the freezing of Local Housing Allowance, many households are enable to pay their rents, facing shortfalls from £22 to £70 per month outside of London and up to £124 to £1,036 per month in central London.

Vicky Hines, Shelter's Hub Manager in Birmingham talks about the crisis of affordability in the UK:

In parallel, the number of tenants being evicted from their homes has grown by a third from 2003 to 2015, rising the number to 40,000 tenants losing their homes in 2015.

Tenants in the private rented sector are particularly at risk with the Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 ‘no fault’ evictions which gives the owners the right to evict their tenants with a two months notice to leave the premise.

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "This Government is determined to help the most vulnerable in society and we're working to make sure people always have a roof over their head.

"Alongside investing £550m to 2020 to address the issue, we're implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act, which will require councils to provide early support to people at risk of becoming homeless."

Crisis says a 60% increase in general new housing supply could reduce homelessness by 19% by 2036, the cessation of welfare cuts on the other hand could reduce the levels by 33 per cent by 2036.

Housing First is one of the solution some cities in the UK like Liverpool are looking out to tackle homelessness, the idea is to provide a stable, independent home and intensive personalised support and case management to homeless people with multiple and complex needs.

In this model, housing is seen as a human right and is therefore provided “first” without any housing readiness conditions and then provide support to help them maintain their housing and avoid going back to homelessness.

Housing First started off in the US and has been adopted by Canada, Denmark, Finland and France as the main homelessness strategy, it has now expended to a few more countries in Europe.

Nonetheless Vicky Hines from Shelter warns that it is important to look at each city's needs to decide whether or not housing first is the best solution for each area.

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