Nearly 2,000 people in Cambridgeshire will be spending Christmas homeless this year
New figures have revealed that almost 2,000 people, many of them children, will be spending Christmas[1] in Cambridgeshire[2] homeless this year. This includes being in the county’s bed and breakfasts, hostels and other emergency housing. The research was conducted by national housing charity Shelter ahead of the festive season.
It showed that 1,873 people across the county will spend Christmas without a home with 88 people estimated to be sleeping rough on any given night. Peterborough[3] has the highest rate of homelessness in the county, with one in every 236 people without a permanent home. This is followed by Cambridge with one in every 410.
Peterborough has the highest number of homeless people in the region at 915, with 444 of those being children. Cambridge has an estimated 355 homeless people, including 143 children. In Fenland there are an estimated 170 homeless people (83 of which are children), while in Huntingdonshire there are 237 (including 88 children).
In South Cambridgeshire, it’s 153 people (66 children), and in East Cambridgeshire it’s 43 people (22 of them children). Peterborough also has the highest number of estimated rough sleepers – 37 on a given night. In Cambridge there are an estimated 33, in Fenland there are 11, in Huntingdonshire four, in South Cambridgeshire two, and in East Cambridgeshire one.
Shelter says their frontline services are dealing with the reality of rising homelessness every day from supporting families crammed into a one-room B&B with mouldy walls and bed bugs, to providing emergency assistance to people faced with a night on the streets. The charity has launched an urgent appeal calling on the public to help it be there for people experiencing homelessness this winter. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Homelessness is on nobody’s Christmas list, but 309,000 people will spend this time of year in a tiny hostel room or freezing in a doorway.
The housing emergency is out of control. Chronic underinvestment in social homes has left people unable to afford skyrocketing private rents and plunged record numbers into homelessness. “It is appalling that the government has allowed thousands of families to be packed into damp and dirty B&B’s and hostel rooms, which are traumatising children and making people desperately ill.
Until the government takes this emergency seriously, our frontline services will do everything they can to help people keep or find a safe home this winter. “It is only with the public’s support that we can continue to provide vital advice and support and fight for the solutions people want and need to end homelessness. To donate to Shelter’s Urgent Appeal, visit shelter.org.uk/donate.[6]“
While Shelter’s analysis is the most comprehensive overview of recorded homelessness in England, they add that the true figure is likely to be higher. This is because some types of homelessness, like sofa-surfing, go entirely undocumented. A DLUHC spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home.
That’s why we are spending GBP2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including making GBP1 billion available so councils can give financial support for people to find a new home and move out of temporary accommodation.
“Temporary accommodation is an important way of making sure no family is without a roof over their head, but councils must ensure it is temporary and suitable for families, who have a right to appeal if it doesn’t meet their household’s needs.
Through our Rough Sleeping Strategy, we will continue to work to end rough sleeping completely.”
References
- ^ Christmas (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Cambridgeshire (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Peterborough (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Temporary toilets in March slammed as ‘accident waiting to happen’ as concerns raised over disability access (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ More than 100,000 dead fish spotted in river in Nene Park in Peterborough (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ shelter.org.uk/donate. (shelter.org.uk)