23 Year Low in New Cases of Homelessness

New cases of homelessness have fallen to levels not seen since the early 1980s, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper announced today. National Statistics released today show that just under 19,500 new households became homeless during April to June of this year. This is nearly 30% lower than the same time last year (the biggest such percentage reduction ever recorded) and continues the downward trend seen since the beginning of 2004.

The figures also show a continued reduction of households in temporary accommodation, down 7% compared to the same time last year. There has been a steady drop in the number of households in temporary accommodation over the last six months – the figure having now reduced to 93,910.

Yvette Cooper also announced today that the Prime Minister’s target, to reduce rough sleeping numbers by two thirds, is being sustained. Today’s statistics show that there are around 500 rough sleepers in England on any given night.

Welcoming the news the Housing Minister said;“We’ve made great progress in preventing and tackling homelessness with numbers falling to a twenty three year low. This record reduction shows the success of prevention schemes funded by £300m worth of government investment. Rough sleeping has also dropped by more than two thirds since 1998.

“As we approach the 40th anniversary of ‘Cathy Come Home’, this government has introduced a safety net which is amongst the strongest in the world and provides protection for families with children like Cathy.

“However, there are still too many people in temporary accommodation and overcrowded conditions and we need to continue the work to prevent rough sleeping. The challenge is to provide more settled homes. That’s why we need to build more homes across the board – more market housing, more social housing, more homes for shared equity and more affordable homes.”

Since 2003 Local Authorities have had strategies in place to prevent and tackle homelessness. By 2008 the Government will have invested £300m for prevention services; schemes include rent deposit schemes and mediation services.

The Government has committed to increasing the rate of house building to 200,000 new homes each year by 2016 to address the supply and affordability problems. We also plan to build an extra 10,000 social homes a year by 2008 – a 50 per cent increase on current rates. The government is also consulting on raising the overcrowding standard, and have invested £20m to help tackle the problem.

The Government is committed to reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation by 50 per cent by 2010. While 85 per cent of households in temporary accommodation are living in self contained housing, they do not provide the security and opportunities a settled home brings.