World Homeless Day

World Homeless Day
World Homeless Day

Local Candidate Jackie Schneider condemns “shameful” Tory record on homelessness

Labour candidate Jackie Schneider is marking World Homeless Day today (Thursday 10 October) by highlighting the Conservatives’ shameful record on homelessness and calling on Boris Johnson to back Labour’s plans to end the scandal of people sleeping on our streets.

Since the Conservatives took office in 2010:

  • the number of people sleeping rough on park benches and in shop doorways has more than doubled, to almost 5,000 people on any given night,
  • the number of people dying homeless has risen by 51% in the last five years alone to 726 last year, and
  • the number of children homeless in temporary accommodation has risen by 69% to over 126,000.

In London, 110 people died homeless last year, while 23 people were found sleeping rough and 236 children are stuck living in temporary accommodation. Anyone walking down Wimbledon Broadway can see this that this is getting much worse too.

During Labour’s time in Government between 1997 and 2010, the independent Homeless Monitor compiled for the homelessness charity, Crisis records an “unprecedented” decline in homelessness.

However, since 2010, homelessness has risen relentlessly as a direct result of the Conservatives slashing investment in new affordable homes, cutting funding to councils and homeless charities, reducing housing benefit, and refusing to regulate a growing and unaffordable private rented sector.

Labour has set out a plan to tackle the crisis of rising homelessness:

  • commit to ending rough sleeping within five years, with a national taskforce led by Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister,
  • provide a new £100m fund to allow every person sleeping rough access to emergency winter accommodation,
  • make 8,000 additional homes available for people with a history of rough sleeping, and
  • act to tackle the root causes of homelessness by investing to build a million low-cost homes over a decade and giving renters stronger rights.

Local Candidate Jackie Schneider, commenting on these figures, said:

“You only have to walk down Wimbledon Broadway to see the increase in people sleeping rough. This is not good enough.

 

“Rising homelessness is not inevitable in a country as rich as ours.”

 

“This is a direct result of shameful Conservative decisions to slash investment for affordable homes, cut back housing benefit, reduce funding for homelessness services, and deny protection to private renters.

 

“The next Labour Government will end rough sleeping within a Parliament and tackle the root causes of rising homelessness with more genuinely affordable homes and stronger rights for renters.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

  • Details on World Homeless Day are available here: http://www.worldhomelessday.org/.
  • In the 2015 Conservative manifesto, the Tories pledged to be judged on how they ‘care for the weakest and most vulnerable’:

“We measure our success not just in how we show our strength abroad, but in how we care for the weakest and most vulnerable at home.”

Conservative Party Manifesto 2015, p. 81

  • In their 2017 the Tories promised to ‘continue to combat homelessness’:

“we will continue to combat homelessness and rough sleeping”

Conservative Party Manifesto 2017,p. 58

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