Hospitals, prisons, the care system and other parts of the state have a role to play with a legal obligation to stop those leaving their care from being forced to live on the streets. The research also recommends that job centres should have dedicated homelessness experts.
The cost of implementing these measures? It would cost £9.9bn – but the benefits, both financial and otherwise, would hit £26.4bn, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The study came off the back of an eight-month consultation of frontline workers and people who have experienced homelessness, and has been backed by former homelessness tzar Dame Louise Casey as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Crisis is now calling on Brits to lobby political leaders to commit to ending homelessness.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “For the first time ever, we have a comprehensive plan that shows exactly how we can address the root causes of homelessness and make it a thing of the past.
“Other parts of the world are taking huge strides towards ending it, and Britain can too. We must not become a society that simply accepts homelessness as ‘a sad fact of life’, because the good news is that we know it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government responded to the plan and said: ”We are investing more than £1.2bn to tackle all forms of homelessness and just last week we announced £30m for councils to help boost the immediate support available to people living on the streets.
“We are also investing £9bn to build more affordable homes and are piloting the Housing First approach in three major regions.”
The plan also gained the backing of the National Housing Federation who also insisted that urgent action is needed to halt the skyrocketing numbers of people living in temporary accommodation.
“This is an impressive, timely and ambitious plan. The number of people on the streets and stuck in temporary accommodation has sky rocketed in recent years. Urgent action is now needed to ensure everyone has somewhere safe and stable to live.
“Crisis are right to highlight the desperate need for more social housing. A key reason why increasing numbers are stuck in temporary accommodation is because local authorities have no homes to offer people,” said Catherine Ryder, head of policy at the National Housing Federation.
“It’s common sense that more houses means less people without a home. The government must invest in building more homes for social rent and making land cheaper for those building social housing.”
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
