Homeless - But Holding Down A Low Paid Job

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07 August 2018 | Updated 10 August 2018

Over half of England's homeless families have at least one, if not two, 'bread-winners' in work, shock new figures show - many of them in the low paid trades often associated with soft FM services.

This is according to new research released by Shelter’s social housing commission which shows 55% of homeless families trapped in temporary accommodation are actually working.

Holding down a job

Based on freedom of information requests, the exclusive analysis shows that more than 33,000 families are holding down a job, despite having nowhere stable to live. This has increased by 73% since 2013, when it was 19,000 families.

This trend in ‘working homelessness’ is being driven by a combination of expensive private rents, the ongoing freeze on housing benefit and a chronic lack of social homes.

High housing costs are a major area of concern for many working families, particularly those in low-paid, part-time or contract jobs. In fact, losing a tenancy is now the single biggest cause of homelessness in the country – accounting for 27% of all households accepted as homeless in the last year.

Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter, said: “It’s disgraceful that even when families are working every hour they can, they’re still forced to live through the grim reality of homelessness.

“In many cases, these are parents who work all day or night before returning to a cramped hostel or B&B where their whole family is forced to share a room. A room with no space for normal family life like cooking, playing or doing homework.

“We cannot allow struggling families to slip through the cracks created by our housing crisis – the government must urgently come up with a new plan for social housing that delivers the genuinely affordable homes we desperately need. Our commission on the future of social housing will be calling for bold solutions, because more of the same is simply not good enough”

Mary's tale

Mary Smith, 47, lives in temporary accommodation in Watford with her three sons. They became homeless after being evicted by their landlord. Mary works full-time in a shoe shop but still can’t afford to rent privately.

Smith said: “Letting my colleagues at work know what's happening is very hard. Luckily, I have an understanding manager now, but I nearly lost my job when I first became homeless because the transport links from my hostel were so bad.

“I’m not hopeful for our future. I think it's going to be this constant, vicious circle of moving from temporary place to temporary place, when all my family want is to settle down. We don't want a palace, we just want a place that we can call home.”

Picture: Mary Smith - how many staff working on your premises suffer the same ordeal?

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 07 August 2018

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