Tens of thousands of people have been made homeless since the start of the pandemic despite a ban on evictions, the Guardian has found, with charities warning that younger people are falling through the gaps.
Since April this year at least 90,063 people in the UK have been threatened with homelessness – and more than half of these have already lost their accommodation.
Charities say data shows a new cohort of homeless people who have slipped through the cracks despite protections such as the ban on evictions and a government scheme to house the homeless during the coronavirus crisis.
These include young people, many of whom work in hospitality, who have lost their jobs and are struggling to support themselves financially. Many have precarious living arrangements meaning they were not protected from the evictions ban.
Ministers recently announced that renters would be protected during the new national restrictions, with no bailiff enforcement action.
While the government said it had almost eradicated rough sleeping through its Everyone In scheme, the Guardian has found tens of thousands of newly homeless people presenting for support.
Paul Noblet, head of public affairs for the homeless charity Centrepoint, said: “Through our helpline, we have been hearing about lots of people losing their homes despite a ban on evictions – some of the calls are from young people who work in the hospitality industry whose home may have been linked to their job, so someone living at a hotel or a pub.”
“People who got eviction notices would be people living under the shadow of losing their home at the first opportunity the courts can reopen,” he said.
Lucy Abraham, chief executive of the homeless charity Glass Door, said it was seeing a large number of people in precarious living situations who had found themselves homeless.
Webb said people who are newly homeless are those living in “precarious situations” that would not be covered by the ban, or those “living with a violent partner”.
He added: “This idea early on that [the government] said they had eradicated rough sleeping, that is definitely an overreaction especially when you look at reports showing those taken off the streets are now starting to slowly trickle back.”
Karen Buck, the Labour MP for Westminster North, said: “There have been some illegal evictions [during the pandemic], which are being desperately underreported.
“At the moment the new homeless appears to be young singles – after we had the Everyone In scheme that was successful in terms of getting people off the streets but since that wound down the numbers have increased rapidly in London.”
Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow housing secretary, said: “The prime minister’s order to stay at home will feel particularly hollow for people without anywhere to call ‘home’. Government ministers said that progress in March was an opportunity to end rough sleeping for good – but it looks like these gains have been lost.”
The government has announced an extra £15m to support people rough sleeping, which Jon Sparkes, from the charity Crisis, said was “welcome but does not go far enough and addresses just one part of the problem.”
Source: Guardian
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