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Homelessness is at its highest level in England since records began and is expected to worsen, according to a scathing investigation by the public spending watchdog into the last government’s attempts to tackle the problem. The National Audit Office said that despite a range of measures introduced under Theresa May’s Conservative administration in 2018, homelessness had soared, with record numbers of families now trapped in unsuitable accommodation. You will not believe that this country is the UK A combination of sky-high rents, insecure tenancies, housing benefit cuts, and severe shortages of social housing were fueling the problem, which was costing the taxpayer £2.4 billion a year and threatening to bankrupt district councils, it said. The number of households accepted as homeless by their local council has risen by more than one-fifth over the past five years, from 64,080 in the third quarter of 2018–19 to 78,980 in the same period last year, an increase of 23%. Just under 113,000 households, including almost 146,000 children, were living in temporary accommodation in the third quarter of last year at a cost of £, up from 83,540 in 2018, a rise of 35%. More than 33,000 households were living in temporary accommodation outside their local area last year, a 42% increase in five years as councils, particularly in London and the south-east, struggled to find affordable properties to place families. sources:
