Jump to content

Government homeless figures unreliable


Recommended Posts

The coalition government claims that 52,000 households were homeless during 2013/4. This shameful number shows that the claim 'we are all in it together' is a shameless lie. However, the claim is also likely to represent a significant underestimate. Figures from a survey, Homelessness Monitor, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Crisis UK show that 280,000 people in England sought local authority support in relation to homelessness. This figure represents an increase of nearly 10% on the previous year.

 

The chief executives of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Crisis UK state in their preface to the findings that '...welfare cuts and changes have left growing numbers of people struggling to keep a roof over their heads'. And they go on to relate that more than half of the country's councils fear that worse is yet to come, and remark that 'combined with a housing crisis that successive governments have failed to tackle, welfare cuts and sanctions are taking a dreadful toll on people's lives.'

 

This in a land where millionaires are hiding their wealth in Swiss bank accounts to evade tax, and tax avoiding multinational corporations have driven down wages and made zero-hour, part-time, temporary contracts the norm, whilst their executives have enjoyed a salary and bonus bonanza.

 

Just ask yourself who is running the country, and who are they running it for?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no doubt that many people are finding it difficult to access appropriate housing in parts of the UK. However I'd like to make two points.

 

The government uses the term 'households', the survey you quote uses 'individuals'. Households can consist of several individuals.

 

The government state 'number of homeless',but the survey states 'sought local authority support in relation to homelessness'. Quite different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.