LGA responds to latest Government homelessness statistics

"Behind this rise in the number of homeless households are thousands of individual tragedies. Councils, on the front line of tackling homelessness, understand this, and are determined to do all they can to prevent people from losing their home in the first place."


Responding to the latest Government homelessness statistics, Cllr Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s Housing spokesman, said:

“Behind this rise in the number of homeless households are thousands of individual tragedies. Councils, on the front line of tackling homelessness, understand this, and are determined to do all they can to prevent people from losing their home in the first place.

“It’s clear the current situation is unsustainable for councils, and disruptive for families. On average over the last three years, councils are having to house the equivalent of an extra secondary school’s worth of homeless children in temporary accommodation every month.

“We must tackle our shortage of affordable homes by building more of them if we’re to truly get to grips with our national housing shortage. While the Government’s indication that it will explore ways to enable councils to build more homes is encouraging, these new homes can’t appear overnight, and the demand is urgent.

“The Government can help councils tackle homelessness, by adapting welfare reforms to ensure housing remains affordable for low-income families and allowing all councils, across the country, to borrow to build new homes as part of the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.”