More British homeless children than ever this Christmas

This video from Britain says about itself:

24 February 2016

3.5 million children are growing up in poverty in the UK. It’s one of the worst rates in the industrialised world and successive governments continue to struggle to bring it into line. Struggling & without a voice, ‘Poor Kids’ shines a light on this pressing issue.

Shelter has revealed that the number of homeless people in England has risen to over 250,000: here.

By Lamiat Sabin in Britain:

Homelessness shames us all

Friday 16th December 2016

2016 will set a new record for rough sleeping and children spending Christmas in temporary digs as Tory misrule rolls on

A HOUSING shortage that will push thousands of children into temporary accommodation this Christmas and leave a record number of rough sleepers out in the cold is a crisis that “shames us all,” Labour said yesterday.

Up to 125,000 youngsters across Britain, including 100,000 in England alone, will spend the festive period stranded in short-term housing or bed and breakfast hostels, according to new government statistics.

Shadow housing minister John Healey said homelessness should not be inevitable in a country as prosperous as Britain.

He called on the government to end the tragedy of people sleeping rough on the pavements, shop entrances and benches — as it’s Tory policies which have increased homelessness.

Rough-sleeping rates fell by around three-quarters under the last Labour government, he said, but have doubled since the Tories came into power in 2010.

The frontbencher insisted this “should shame government ministers most of all.”

He said: “With 10 days to go before Christmas, a record number of homeless people are sleeping on our streets, in shop doorways and on park benches.

“More than 100,000 children will spend Christmas Day in temporary accommodation; children with no home, young lives scarred by insecurity and impermanence.”

He suggested ministers should fund councils and housing associations in order to provide more housing at social rents — and he vowed that a Labour government would end rough sleeping within its first term in power.

Mr Healey added: “We know what works because we have done it before.”

The Tories have made no provisions for truly affordable housing, instead subsidising homes to be built for shared ownership and so-called “starter homes” that would cost buyers up to £450,000.

Conservative Housing Minister Gavin Barwell admitted that the situation needed to be tackled.

He said: “On the government benches we welcome this debate. Nobody is hiding from the facts.

“Both statutory homelessness and rough sleeping are rising and it’s right that we discuss why that is happening and what we need to do to deal with it.”

Mr Barwell claimed both Labour and Tory governments had failed to build enough homes over the past 40 years and that this led to a “deep-seated” crisis.

…

New government figures released yesterday show 21,400 households, accounting for 29 per cent of those living in temporary accommodation in England, have been moved away from their communities.

Private-sector eviction remains the number one cause of homelessness in England, with 18,820 households becoming homeless in this way in the last year alone.

This is a 12 per cent increase compared with a year ago.

Shelter homeless charity head Campbell Robb said: “The figures paint a desperate picture of thousands of families facing not only the trauma of homelessness, but also the prospect of having to move away from their friends, families and everything they hold dear.

“It’s especially heartbreaking to know that so many children will find themselves waking up without somewhere to call home this Christmas morning.”