By Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot Labour Party, personal capacity.
A recent Despatches programme revealed the growing number of people in full-time work who are homeless. The investigative reporter, herself homeless for a period during her childhood, explained the impact it had on her when her dad lost his job.
What shocked her most was the rising number of homelessness who are working. Of the 300,000 homeless people,33,000 are working. This figure is almost certainly an underestimate, because it does not include rough sleepers and those in temporary shelters.
Traditionally, work was seen as a route out of homelessness. However, since 2013, the working homeless has risen by 73%.The housing charity, Shelter, believe this rise is due to increased private rent and cuts to housing benefit.
The reporter interviewed a guy from South East London who works as a security guard at the high(expensive) fashion outlet, Prada, in Bond Street, London. He earns £8.50 an hour and presently relies on a night shelter. He had slept rough because sometimes he felt safer on the streets.
A major barrier for the homeless in getting accommodation is that a deposit is required, plus a month’s rent payment in advance. This means that you will need £2000 before you are even given the keys to a property. Over 19,000 homeless people are not regarded as a ‘priority’ for housing by local authorities in England
The reporter requested an interview with Heather Wheeler, the Tory Homelessness Minister. She declined, on the grounds that she wasn’t available to speak on the subject. The reporter regarded this as odd, given this was her sole brief. The department did write, explaining that the recent Homelessness Reduction Act will resolve the problem of Britain’s homelessness crises.
I share Shelter’s scepticism about the current policy, because the policy does nothing to address the causes of the current crises. The causes of the rise in the working homeless are low wages, zero-hour contracts, benefit cuts, no social housing and no rent controls. Only a Labour Government, committed to a Socialist housing programme can solve the homelessness crises.
Labour has to fight for a fair policy for the rented sector, including the following:
· Rent controls, with rents, not linked to the ‘market’ but linked to the minimum wage so no family has to pay huge proportion of its income in rent.
· Long-term leases to give tenants security of tenure
· Local authority checks on landlords to ensure that properties are in adequate repair
· Local authority powers to take over rented property where landlords are too slow to make necessary repairs and refurbishment.
· A crash council-house building programme to alleviate the current housing emergency
July 30, 2018
