Labour have addressed the major issue of homelessness around the UK, by vowing to double the number of homes that are available for use by homeless people in England, in an attempt to significantly reduce the amount of people sleeping rough on the streets.
Despite the government claiming that £500 million had been invested in helping the homeless, Labour still believe that the amount of people still sleeping rough is simply inexcusable, and should the part come into power there would be a major focus on providing homes in cities such as Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham.
4,000 new flats with genuinely affordable rent is the plan proposed by Labour politicians, and the party has put the idea forward to the government in the hope that they will back the plan, which would be delivered anyway should Labour win the 2020 general election.
Labour’s housing spokesman John Healy told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, “The tragedy of this is this is a problem that can be solved. The rapidly rising number of people sleeping in doorways and on park benches shames us all. There can be no excuses – it must end full stop. The spiralling rise in street homelessness results directly from decisions made by ministers since 2010 on housing, and on funding for charities and councils.”
There were reportedly 3,569 people estimated to be living on the streets in the UK last year according to government figures that were published in Autumn of 2015, which compared to the 2010 figure of 1,768 is an astounding increase.
Labour’s plan is to use the Clearing House scheme that was set up for London in 1991 as a model for the rest of the country, and expand it into many other areas of the UK, but whether these plans will be given the go-ahead we shall have to wait and see.
