Number of distressed people on the street is ‘unbelievable’, Big Issue founder
Welfare cuts and “turning off the taps to local councils” are affecting how authorities can support homeless people, the founder of the Big Issue has said.
John Bird warned the homelessness crisis could see its “worst winter for over two decades” due to an increasing number of people living on the streets and “the fact money is going down and not up”.
In an interview with the Guardian, Lord Bird said: “It is likely to make future winters harder, and next year threatens to be worse.
“I am also talking about the number of really distressed people on the street. I have noticed an increase in young, very distressed women.
“It’s unbelievable and there was not as much of that in the early 1990s. That is linked to the growth of recreational drug use.”
The social entrepreneur launched the magazine sold by street vendors hit by homelessness in 1991 and blamed funding cuts to councils and charities for contributing to the situation.
“Welfare cuts have had an impact, but I think the real thing that has hit is the removal of support for local authorities… Councils have then cut back on support for those working with the most dispossessed,” he told the paper.
“Welfare changes will have an effect, but it’s not been as brutal as turning off the taps to local councils. The cost of austerity is unsustainable.”
Figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for April to June 2017 showed 78,180 households in England were in temporary housing at the end of June this year, a level not seen since December 2007.
An autumn snapshot survey last year recorded 4,134 rough sleepers, an increase of 134% on 2010.
A DCLG spokesman said: “Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping are complex issues with no single solution, but this government is determined to help the most vulnerable in society.
“We’re investing £550 million to 2020 to address the issue and implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act.
“This act means more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. We’re also committed to halving rough sleeping by 2020, and eliminating it altogether by 2027.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) PA Wire.
