UK Homelessness Crisis Expected To Worsen This Winter

Shelter, a charity that campaigns for tenant rights in Great Britain, says that at least 271,000 people are currently homeless in England alone.

Out of the 271,000 people that are homeless, 131,000 are expected to be children.

Shelter also believes that "one in 208 people in England are without a home".

This year, a study conducted by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), found that a huge 4.2 million children in the UK were living in poverty between 2021 and 2022.

With the cost-of-living crisis lasting until 2024, the number of people without permanent accommodation is expected to increase.

The Conservative government's closing of hotels that were used to hold migrant persons and families, will also have a detrimental effect on homelessness, warned Glasgow City Council.

This week, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, promised MPs that the Home Office would boot out asylum seekers from 50 hotels across the UK by January next year.

The Home Office noted that more hotels are also expected to be taken out of use for asylum seekers in the following months.

In regard to those who have their asylum application approved, Glasgow officials recognised that they will be ordered to leave their government-funded accommodation.

The responsibility of housing the newly approved refugees would then be passed down to the council, Glasgow City Council noted.

The Scottish city estimated that around 77 per cent of the group will be seeking emergency accommodation which will dramatically worsen the UK's homelessness crisis.

Susan Aitken, the Leader of Glasgow City Council, accused the government of rushing their way through the asylum crisis to win votes at the upcoming general election, expected to take place before 28 January 2025.

"It thinks closing hotels will convince voters it is delivering on its ugly rhetoric about getting tough on asylum – when all it is actually doing is moving people around like chess pieces," Aitken explained.

Pointing the finger at the Tory party for neglecting cities across the UK, Aitken added: "Out of sight, out of mind is now the entirety of their asylum policy – even at the risk of a humanitarian crisis in towns and cities across the UK."

"This doesn't have to happen. We are prepared to work with the Home Office to help them approach cases in Glasgow in a planned and structured way if they provide us with the resources," she warned on behalf of the council.

Birmingham City Council also estimates that the asylum crisis will have a detrimental effect on the homelessness crisis this winter.

The city council estimates that up to 1,000 asylum seekers in Birmingham could be homeless by Christmas.

Again, pointing the finger at the Conservative government for failing to find a sustainable solution to the migrant crisis in the UK, Jayne Francis, a Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness, blamed the government for ignoring the huge number of asylum applications.

Francis recognised that the asylum backlog "puts enormous strain on housing during an already difficult time due to the cost-of-living crisis", adding that "an estimated 1,000 asylum seekers" would be looking to the council for accommodation.

Birmingham Council said that the estimated figure stems from the Home Office's decision to fast-track its response to some asylum claims.

"The government's decision to increase volumes of decisions to this level without due notice and risk mitigation will undermine this work and, without doubt, will lead to a rise in homelessness over both the immediate and longer term, in Birmingham and elsewhere in the UK," Francis said.

Acknowledging how most asylum seekers have fled from "horror and persecution", Francis reassured: "Birmingham will continue to do all it can to provide support and a welcome to these vulnerable people."