UK highest for homelessness in developed world.

Net migration in 2022 was 745, 000 and not expected to be much less for 2023 ( numbers expected to be announced soon) Just to house these 1,500,000 new arrivals we would need to have approx built roughly 400,000 homes working on 4 people per home. In addition we don't have enough accommodation for the population already here. Is it any surprise that we have so many homeless.

MaizieD

Another factor affecting the housing market is the increasing use of houses as short term holiday lets in tourist areas. There has been a marked increase in this over the last few years.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61966359

Crossed posts! I agree.

Perhaps, as a temporary measure, short term lets and AirB&Bs should be more carefully monitored and perhaps a govt incentive given to them being used for long term lets/tenancies.

Rents are only part of the issue, short term and rolling tenancies don’t help giving renters zero security.

In many other countries tenancies are far far longer giving renters security, resulting in many of them treating the home with respect and improving it as one would with an owned property.

Another factor affecting the housing market is the increasing use of houses as short term holiday lets in tourist areas. There has been a marked increase in this over the last few years.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61966359

Witzend I agree Labour should have ensured money from the sale of council houses was invested in new social housing.
I’ll never forgive the LibDems for announcing once out of coalition they now knew more and the bedroom tax should be abolished
My hope is for a less punitive government, one that will invest in public services , including the probation and prison services to ensure alternatives to custody and more rehabilitation in prisons

ps Despite having photographic evidence, it took just short of a year to be awarded the tenant's deposit because she refused to accept any responsibility for the condition it was left in.

meddijess

Temporary accommodation is used by local councils to house homeless people. Could be in hotels (some of them are awful), hostels, flats or rooms. Demand far exceeds supply hence lots of unfortunate people sleeping rough.

A lot of them don’t meet the council criteria due to being found “internally homeless”

Never again same here Daisy. After having to spend £1000's completely gutting what was a lovely one bedroom flat, we'll never let it out again.

It's an investment so we're keeping hold of it for now occasionally using it ourselves.

The only way is to increase the number of housing association properties being built, the advantages they have over private landlords is enormous.
This should be one of Labour’s priorities, in this area we are fairly well served, my son was only on the waiting list for a few months and got a new build semi, however they are both working which helps the HA balance the books and build more

The population growth in the UK is actually slowing down and may decline over the next few years as people have smaller families - we have a vast population of people over 80 many of whom could move to residential homes if there were enough suitable ones. My experience of letting property has been a nightmare. A very nice mobile home that my late husband bought to house an employee for a few months was completely trashed and had to be destroyed afterwards and a cottage that I let cost me over £5000 to put right after the last tenant left - carpet stained from dog who also scratched through a door and ripped up lino. House stank of cigarettes. Electrical fittings had been ripped out. Cooker broken. Garden shed destroyed. Never again!!!

Germanshepherdsmum

The more urgent need is affordable housing (to buy or rent) for families. I would dispute pen’s assumed average occupancy of new homes of two per dwelling. Most which are built are family homes, which many seeking to downsize know.

If we assume an average of three people per new home there's still a shortfall of 270,000 spaces. And if you factor in the purchase of high end property by overseas investors, an awful lot of which is either not occupied at all, or at best used as holiday accommodation, it is not surprising that UK housing is in crisis.

Many rental properties have been taken out of the equation after landlords have been left with trashed properties, failure to pay rent and the high costs involved in getting out bad tenants. Owning and renting out is certainly not something I would ever contemplate.

Iam64, well, Labour had 13 years in which to repeal or adjust those laws, only they didn’t.

It’s also worth remembering that buy to let first started soaring under Labour, after Gordon Brown abolished mortgage interest relief for landlords, while retaining it for owner occupiers. Plus his raid on pension funds made a lot of people think they’d prefer to put their money into a tangible asset under their own control.

Please don’t assume from this that I’ll be voting Tory -I certainly won’t. But let’s acknowledge that there’s blame on both sides.

‘Because no one in their right minds would let out a property with no reasonable get out clause. Higher interest rates, increasing red tape, tax changes, section 24, ie removes right to deduct costs, mortgage interest etc, before calculating tax so gross income taxable, so I understand. Not profitable for landlords.’

For many single property landlords, it’ll be a matter of it being a sustainable just-about-worth-the-aggro.

As an aside, Angela Raynor may be thanking her lucky stars that election purdah starts so soon & she is far less likely to be deposed as Deputy Leader. I almost feel sorry for Starmer.

Temporary accommodation is used by local councils to house homeless people. Could be in hotels (some of them are awful), hostels, flats or rooms. Demand far exceeds supply hence lots of unfortunate people sleeping rough.

Which overseas investment companies are building new housing? All house builders build purely for profit. When they build houses for housing associations they are paid for them by the HAs. Show me a builder who can work for no profit, or a landowner who will give away land for development.

If a government can’t make a good effort at eradicating homelessness almost completely then something is awry. I know there are plenty of things a government has to weigh up but this is a moral imperative and we should not keep making excuses. It’s not really fair to blame private landlords-I’ve been one and it’s no picnic. Thatcher sold off the council houses, which was a crazy thing to do in my opinion so maybe we should start by replacing them. It’s not a simple problem but if we don’t at least accept this has GOT to be fixed then the poor souls in shop doorways will increase. I would like to believe Labour will do better but part of me says ‘dream on’

Actually there are many empty homes but people can’t afford the rent/deposit. The average take home pay for most people in my area is £1,800 but ready for a one-bedroom flat is £1200 to £1500. That’s where the problem lies. Overseas investment companies funding the building of new housing simply for profit. It’s a serious problem which politicians ignore because their donors are involved in the building industry

The more urgent need is affordable housing (to buy or rent) for families. I would dispute pen’s assumed average occupancy of new homes of two per dwelling. Most which are built are family homes, which many seeking to downsize know.

pen50

According to the NHBC, 133,213 new homes were built in 2023. Assuming an average occupancy of 2 people per home, that means 266 thousand new occupancies.

I can't find a directly comparable figure, but in the year to June 2023, the UK had net immigration of 672,000, and I can't believe that Jan-Dec 2023 will be hugely different.

So there is an excess of some 400,000 people looking for accommodation. The actions of private landlords in selling their properties will have no impact on rent levels given the extraordinary increase in demand for housing.

The other issue is that only a very small percentage of new homes built are affordable or suitable for first time buyers.

Pantglas2

The reason I ask Cossy is that only a caravan would have cooking facilities so not a bad temporary solution. The others would need to be last ditch short term I.e. a couple of weeks rather than months or years.

We had a large site near us in Essex which was used for temp and perm accommodation. Great in the summer, appalling in the winter, very old stock badly insulated and very expensive to heat and prevent damp. In addition, a very large amount of prison leavers were also housed here, alongside addicts and young mums, it wasn’t a great solution and has since stopped taking short term unemployed homeless people due to the in fighting on site.

According to the NHBC, 133,213 new homes were built in 2023. Assuming an average occupancy of 2 people per home, that means 266 thousand new occupancies.

I can't find a directly comparable figure, but in the year to June 2023, the UK had net immigration of 672,000, and I can't believe that Jan-Dec 2023 will be hugely different.

So there is an excess of some 400,000 people looking for accommodation. The actions of private landlords in selling their properties will have no impact on rent levels given the extraordinary increase in demand for housing.

meadowgran

It can vary such as a house with shared kitchen, rental properties that are over crowded, hotel rooms with no cooking or laundry facilities. Families can live like this for years because of the shortage of social housing and private rentals.

Indeed they can and temp accommodation also includes social housing which has been condemned (happening in two different areas in Essex alone!)

Four to five years is the average.

Iam64

It’s part of our housing crisis. We have expensive housing, rented or on mortgage. Thatcher’s refusal to allow councils to use the money from the sale of its housing stock compounded the shortage the policy caused.
I recognise the pressures on private landlords when tenants don’t pay rent or maintain their accommodation.
And - we have huge problems with drug/alcohol/anti social behaviour/mental health.
We need a holistic approach to the many ills in our apciety.

👏👏👏👏👏

ronib

Oreo my thoughts exactly. So why the sensational headline? Surely it should read along the lines of UK has lowest number of homeless people sleeping on the streets despite overwhelming demand from unprecedented increase in population density! So well done UK!!

Yes Well Done UK! One of the richest countries in the world and people are living in cardboard boxes.

Lets wave a little flag to celebrate.