Time for long-term solutions to homelessness

Posted: February 27, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Bed and breakfast, Homelessness, Social housing, Temporary accommodation | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

No more sticking plaster politics was the promise from Labour at the general election seven months ago.

The 126,000 homeless families and 164,000 children living in temporary accommodation in England (according to the latest statistics published on Thursday) would surely agree that is way past time for short-term fixes. 

Legally entitled to permanent social housing, they can instead be stuck in temporary homes for years, frequently miles away from work, friends and family, often in bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) and sometimes living in conditions that contribute to the deaths of their children. 

Local authorities facing soaring costs for the most insecure housing that have pushed some to the brink of bankruptcy would also quickly agree.

And so did homelessness minister Rushanara Ali as she told a summit on ending homelessness organised by Crisis on Tuesday: ‘We must address this crisis and deliver long-term solutions’.

But until the spending review in the Spring and homelessness strategy to follow we will have to be satisfied with announcements like last week’s extra £300 million for affordable homes plus this week’s extra £30 million in emergency homelessness funding and pledge to extend Awaab’s Law to temporary accommodation.

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Promising signs on funding and new towns

Posted: February 19, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Affordable housing, New towns | Leave a comment

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

After a relentless week of grim international news, it’s good to have something to celebrate on the domestic and housing front. 

Until the spending review in the Spring, any assessment of the government’s overall approach to housing will have to be provisional but this week brought some hopeful signs. 

First up was the announcement of an extra £300 million for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), plus for more temporary housing, then confirmation that this is in addition to the £500 million announced in the Budget in October.

At the time that seemed a little underwhelming given advance speculation that an extra £1 billion might be available but it now seems that some of that was held back. 

True, the additional 7,800 affordable homes promised will only make up for a small part of the 50,000 to 70,000-home shortfall against what the 2021-26 AHP was originally expected to deliver, but that still represents a significant short-term boost for this year and lays down a marker for the future in the spending review. 

It also recalls the last couple of years of the last Labour government, when regular announcements of extra investment added up to something more significant over time.

Next up, and more for the long term, is the announcement that more than 100 sites across England have been put forward as candidates for the next generation of new towns. 

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