Are councils spending 100 times more housing the homeless than when Labour was last in power? Is this right?
That’s what the new figures seem to suggest.
In 2019, This Site published an article with figures showing that council spending on accommodation for homeless families had surged by 780 per cent since 2009-10, with cash-strapped local authorities spending £93.3m on bed-and-breakfasts for homeless households, up from £10.6m in 2009-10.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Now, according to the BBC,
Councils in England spent a record £1bn on temporary accommodation for homeless families in the past year.
This is more than 50% higher than the year before, driven by record numbers of families living in short-term housing, including over 150,000 children.
Councils spent £417m accommodating families in hostels and bed and breakfasts, a 63% increase on the year before.
£1bn equates to around 100 times the amount councils were spending in 2009-10. According to the article, experts are saying soaring private rents, a lack of housebuilding and increased eviction rates are responsible for the rise.
The new Labour government plans to reverse the situation by encouraging private and social landlords to build 1.5 million new dwellings, and by banning no-fault evictions.
But high private rents are among the reasons for the homelessness epidemic, so This Writer can see little merit in Keir Starmer’s scheme. He doesn’t want the public purse to pay for new builds – clearly – but this means tenants will be as much in danger of eviction as ever.
As I wrote in 2019,
Provision of social housing has always been the cheapest option for dealing with poverty and homelessness.
It cuts crime – both by and against people who don’t have homes, meaning our police forces are less stretched.
It cuts strain on the health service – there is less violent crime against the homeless, and there is less likelihood of homeless people falling prey to disease.
And it provides income to local authorities that otherwise have to pay out increasing amounts to private landlords to put a metaphorical sticking-plaster over this wound on our society.
So the ultimate result of laying out cash on social housing is a saving.
Why is Keir Starmer refusing to acknowledge that?
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Are councils spending 100 TIMES more housing the homeless than when Labour was last in power?
Are councils spending 100 times more housing the homeless than when Labour was last in power? Is this right?
That’s what the new figures seem to suggest.
In 2019, This Site published an article with figures showing that council spending on accommodation for homeless families had surged by 780 per cent since 2009-10, with cash-strapped local authorities spending £93.3m on bed-and-breakfasts for homeless households, up from £10.6m in 2009-10.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Now, according to the BBC,
£1bn equates to around 100 times the amount councils were spending in 2009-10. According to the article, experts are saying soaring private rents, a lack of housebuilding and increased eviction rates are responsible for the rise.
The new Labour government plans to reverse the situation by encouraging private and social landlords to build 1.5 million new dwellings, and by banning no-fault evictions.
But high private rents are among the reasons for the homelessness epidemic, so This Writer can see little merit in Keir Starmer’s scheme. He doesn’t want the public purse to pay for new builds – clearly – but this means tenants will be as much in danger of eviction as ever.
As I wrote in 2019,
So the ultimate result of laying out cash on social housing is a saving.
Why is Keir Starmer refusing to acknowledge that?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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