Homelessness in the UK is out of control. Today, there are more than 270,000 homeless people in the UK – more than 120,000 of them are children. Most are in temporary accommodation while an estimated 2,400 ‘sleep rough’ any given night. Homelessness in the UK has been steadily growing for more than a decade and is now 38% more prevalent than in 2010. Even these worrying numbers do not tell the whole story. As precise homelessness data is difficult to collect, these figures are widely thought to be a gross underestimate.
And the effects of homelessness are enormous.
With the life expectancy of rough sleepers estimated to be in the 40s, the UK’s homeless population now resembles the 18th century more than the 21st. With the world’s fifth-largest economy and high GDP per capita, the UK should be able to do better. But in order to do so we need to be honest about the causes of homelessness: the root cause is a stark lack of affordable housing.
The housing crisis doesn’t just exacerbate UK homelessness; it’s causing it. The homeless population is determined by both the rate at which people become homeless and the rate at which people stop being homeless. People fall into homelessness for many reasons; relationship breakdowns, abuse, poverty, addiction, illness and evictions, and clearly we need to do all we can to address these issues to prevent homelessness in the first place.
However, while the number of people becoming homeless can and should be reduced, we also have to look at what stops people from being able to end their homelessness. The biggest factor here is the barriers preventing anyone from finding accommodation. Skyrocketing rents have made it difficult for even privileged, middle-class professionals to find suitable accommodation in high-demand areas such as London, Brighton, Oxford and Edinburgh. The difficulties faced by homeless house-seekers, who have far few tools at their disposal, are magnitudes greater.
Decades of rents and house prices outstripping wage increases have left working people spending a greater proportion of their income on housing. They’re more vulnerable to homelessness now than ever. When something goes wrong, they lose their job, have to care for a loved one or incur unexpected costs, they’re more susceptible to losing their accommodation in the process.
The cause and effect is clearly displayed in the data. The correlation between the rate of homelessness and cost of housing is clear-cut. London, with an average house price of £497,948 has the highest rate of homelessness (more than 1 in 53). Conversely, the North East, where an average house sells for only £143,129 has the lowest rate of homelessness – 1 in 2,774.
It is often argued that new construction is unnecessary because the number of vacant homes in the UK is larger than the homeless population. Whilst this is technically correct, it is ultimately a misleading statistic obscuring the truth – vacant homes are not in the areas where there is high demand. Not only that, the UK has a super-low rate of vacant homes with the 2nd lowest rate in Europe. We know that London has the highest rate of homelessness. It also has the lowest vacancy rate. These ‘phenomena’ are symptoms of the same problem; a super-tight housing market with far, far too few homes.
If we are serious about combatting homelessness we need to take the crucial step of making housing more affordable. We need to break the cycle of demand outpacing construction and make common-sense reforms in order to create more affordable housing.
It’s time to demand that our politicians properly ramp up the construction of social housing. We need to protect renters by ending no-fault evictions. Most of all we need to reform the planning sector to allow for a construction renaissance because study after study after study after study has shown that when more market-rate housing is built, housing gets cheaper. More supply reduces scarcity and in turn, housing becomes more affordable.
By creating a housing surplus, we can ensure that homeless people are able to break the cycle, get decent accommodation and keep it.
PricedOut is the national campaign for fairer house prices. We want to make sure England builds the houses it needs so that everyone can afford a high-quality place to live. If you like our work and want to help us out please consider donating or maybe even volunteer with us!
