Rise in disabled individuals dealing with homelessness in England
Greater than 60,000 disabled households in England confronted homelessness final yr, a rise of almost 75% since 2019, official figures present.
Evaluation of presidency information by the homelessness charity Disaster additionally exhibits the quantity of social housing given to disabled individuals has gone down.
The numbers are probably so as to add to unease within the Labour Social gathering over deliberate cuts to incapacity advantages, with one MP warning the federal government in opposition to going “additional and quicker within the fallacious course.”
A authorities spokesperson stated £1bn was being given to councils this yr to “assist households quicker and cease individuals turning into homeless within the first place”
Figures launched final week present that 21% of households dealing with homelessness within the final three months of final yr had some kind of bodily unwell well being or incapacity.
General homelessness rose considerably in recent times, earlier than peaking in early 2024, however these figures present that homelessness amongst households with a incapacity has risen quicker.
Some 62,040 households with bodily unwell well being and incapacity wants confronted homelessness in 2023/24, in contrast with 35,860 in 2018/19.
Authorities information exhibits the variety of social housing lettings given to households with a incapacity fell from 20% in 2022/23 to 16% in 2023/24.
A variety of Labour MPs have expressed concern in current weeks about cuts to welfare funds for pensioners and folks with disabilities.
Labour MP Paula Barker, who co-chairs a cross-party group centered on homelessness, stated that “sure individuals” in authorities “speak about going additional and quicker, however we have to go additional and quicker in the appropriate course, not the fallacious course”.
She stated the incapacity homelessness numbers had been “massively vital” and would have “an actual detrimental and knock-on affect” when mixed with the profit adjustments.
In March, the federal government introduced a significant welfare shake-up to save cash, together with adjustments to a incapacity profit known as private independence cost (Pip).
Barker added that the Treasury had “imposed a straightjacket” on the federal government.
She stated there was a “deep-rooted Treasury orthodoxy from civil servants that has sadly fitted hand-in-glove with a chancellor who has been keen to associate with that”.
Throughout final yr’s basic election, Sir Keir Starmer promised {that a} Labour authorities would deliver ahead a technique “to place Britain again on monitor to ending homelessness”.
Some Labour MPs have grow to be more and more involved that 10 months on from the election, no such technique has emerged.
“Having a everlasting house is so vital on your well being,” says Julie, who has extreme osteoarthritis.
Two years in the past, Julie and her teenage son spent 5 months in momentary lodging in Oxfordshire.
This included staying in three resorts, certainly one of which could not accommodate her mobility scooter in her room and one other of which had no cooking services and no fridge.
“It was actually troublesome and it actually affected my well being,” she says, “we could not prepare dinner, we had been consuming immediate pasta. It was arduous to get round within the previous wheelchair I had on the time.”
Julie says she developed type-2 diabetes through the time she was dwelling in momentary lodging.
Alex Bax, chief govt of homelessness and healthcare charity Pathway, says the “well being service is just too typically unable to supply the care that individuals dealing with homelessness want”.
He known as on ministers to take “daring motion to deal with poor well being and homelessness within the joined-up method that these figures present is so desperately wanted”.
Matt Downie, chief govt of Disaster, stated ministers have to “present renewed safety and stability for individuals throughout the nation” and known as on the federal government to construct 90,000 new social houses a yr.
He stated the figures on incapacity homelessness had been “actually regarding” and would result in “extra hardship, and extra stress on already overstretched councils”.
A authorities spokesperson stated ministers had inherited “a devastating housing disaster and a damaged social care system”.
They stated they had been offering £1bn “for essential homelessness providers this yr” and “tackling the foundation causes” by constructing 1.5 million new houses in England.
A senior Treasury supply stated “the Labour authorities has invested a further £40bn into our public providers, together with the NHS, and elevated capital funding in our roads, rail and housing by greater than £100bn”.
