June 11, 2009
NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS ACCEPTED AS HOMELESS DOWN BY MORE THAN A QUARTER
NEW figures show the number of people accepted by local authorities as homeless in England is down 26 per cent in a year.
The decrease is even more significant in Rotherham, where the total for January to March 2009 is 28 per cent lower than in the same period in 2008, down from 32 to 23.
And in Barnsley there has been a massive 58 per cent drop, from 36 in the first quarter of 2008 to 15 a year later.
New housing minister and Wentworth MP John Healey said:
“We’ve made homelessness a high priority with the biggest ever cash injection of £220million over three years to tackle and prevent homelessness. Today’s figures are testament to the hard work put in by local authorities and other agencies.
“At the same time we’re helping families and first-time buyers into affordable homes through our £8bn housing programme, bringing forward £550 million to provide thousands more social homes sooner and real help now for those at risk of repossession.”
Nationally the figures also show the largest year on year decrease in the number of households in temporary accommodation, with numbers reduced by 17 per cent since last year.
The temporary accommodation statistics also indicate that local authorities are on track to meet the national target of halving the number of households to 50,500 by 2010, meaning that more people are being found settled homes.
- The latest homelessness statistics can be found at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/homelessnessq12009