The sofa-surfing generation: Homelessness is rife in Tory Britain

Last Updated: August 10, 2017By Tags: , , , , , ,

Study estimates more people are sleeping rough than we thought [Image: E+].

The aggregate number of people sleeping rough in the UK today is around 100,000 – around 25 times the 4,100 that has been estimated, according to research by Heriot-Watt University.

That’s Tory Britain for you.

They don’t like building houses, you see. If they did, house prices would start to fall – leading to a “negative wealth effect” – a fall in consumer confidence meaning spending would drop, so demand for products would fall, so the economy would suffer.

But too few people own houses now, anyway – and a lot of property has been sold to overseas investors, meaning any profit from them goes abroad.

So the UK is in a double-bind. Building houses could help the problem of homelessness, but could harm the economy; not building might mean a prima facie economic growth, but where is the money going?

As we have a Tory government, they have decided to sit on their hands. Anybody without the wherewithal to buy a hugely expensive house is deemed not important enough to have one.

It’s as simple as that.

More than twice as many people are sleeping rough in Tory Britain as previously thought, a worrying new study on homelessness [has warned].

Analysis by academics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh found 9,100 people are currently sleeping on the streets across Britain – more than double the 4,100 previous estimates suggested.

Their study warns a further 8,900 people are sleeping in tents, cars or public transport, more than 12,000 live in squats and a staggering 68,300 are sofa-surfing on friends’ couches.

And the study – carried out for homeless charity Crisis – predicts the number of rough sleepers will soar by three quarters over the next decade unless new action is taken by Government.

Read more: Twice as many people are sleeping rough in Tory Britain as we thought, alarming new study reveals


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No Comments

  1. Rusty August 10, 2017 at 4:09 pm - Reply

    I’m one sofa surfer! It’s no joke living like this, nowhere to just yet and I’m working and paying my taxes so tory mps can have a second home!

  2. hugosmum70 August 10, 2017 at 6:18 pm - Reply

    and if you and/or that friend are on benefits and its found he/she is putting you up on a regular basis for more than a (i think its 3 nights but could be wrong on the number) both sofa surfer and enabler can be in a lot of bother if you dont tell the housing benefit people.i know it happened to a friend of mine. he landed up having to pay a large amount back out of his 70+ quid a week benefit.tho the so called mate got away with paying nothing.

  3. hugosmum70 August 10, 2017 at 6:19 pm - Reply

    thats 3 nights every so often. not 3 nights period.

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