Nearly 45,000 households had nowhere to live in the three months to December last year, official figures show

Nearly 45,000 households had nowhere to live in the three months to December last year, official figures show

The number of people being made homeless jumped by 16% in the final three months of last year, according to the latest government figures, which laid bare the scale of the country’s housing crisis.

Figures published by the government on Tuesday show nearly 45,000 households in England were assessed as homeless in the three months to December, up from just under 39,000 during the same period in 2022.

The figures also show the number of people – including children – in temporary accommodation hit record levels in 2023, triggering warnings of a housing “emergency”.

Mike Amesbury, the shadow minister for homelessness, said: “These stats reveal a growing Tory housing emergency being felt by families in every part of the country. Over the past 14 years, the Tories have taken a wrecking ball to the foundation of a secure home, leaving Britain facing a homelessness epidemic.

  • @UnderpantsWeevilEnglish
    1•7 months ago

    Unfortunately, conservatives currently control the Labour Party.

    And when you consider how they are maintaining their majority position within the party, you may want to reconsider the state of democracy in the UK.

    Mr Tarry, a former political officer at the TSSA trade union, has been the MP for Ilford South since 2019. In the summer of 2022 he faced a trigger ballot, a Labour Party mechanism that lets local parties force a re-selection vote, losing the subsequent vote that October.

    Mr Athwal, the Redbridge council leader, won the selection. He had been endorsed by Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary and one of the party’s leading moderate figures.

    Mr Tarry is understood to have won 57 per cent of the in-person votes at the selection but just 35 per cent of the Anonyvoter votes, plus a small number of postal votes. Mr Athwal won 43 per cent of the in-person votes but 65 per cent of the Anonyvoter and postal vote.

    The vote breakdown was provided by Mr Tarry’s team. No record is published by the party. Labour and Mr Athwal did not dispute the accuracy when approached for comment.

    …

    Ms Winter competed against Gerald Jones, the Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, who was made shadow Scotland minister by Sir Keir in September.

    She won 56 per cent of the postal votes but 47 per cent of the Anonyvoter votes, according to a breakdown recorded by her team. There were no in-person votes.

    Mr Jones won 43 per cent of the postal votes – there was one abstention – but 53 per cent of the Anonyvoter votes, meaning he will be the candidate for the new seat.

    Before and after the June 2023 selection, Ms Winter’s lawyers Howe+Co sent letters to senior figures in both the UK Labour Party and Welsh Labour raising concerns about the process.

    A letter sent to Jo McIntyre, the general secretary of Welsh Labour, before the selection raised concerns about using online voting, saying: “As you are aware from previous trigger ballots and selections, there is serious disquiet among some parliamentarians and party members that online processes have produced and will continue to produce undemocratic results which lack fairness and transparency.”