Homelessness Debate in Westminster Hall

I spoke in the well subscribed debate on Homelessness today, and I was keen to put the human cost forward as well as the financial cost of failure.

In Oldham there are 517 households with 633 children living in temporary B&B and shared nightly facility accommodation. Though we call it temporary accommodation 10% have been in those facilities for 2-5 years, 32% for 1-2 years. These are formative years for children and the impact of low standard living conditions, distance from schools and support networks, are unacceptable.

And so is the gold rush it has presented to private landlords including in Oldham which is ripping off taxpayers and driving up prices locally. Room rates at a recently evacuated building at Kings Hall were contracted by the local authority at £7,000 a month. That’s £85,000 a year for what were attic rooms stuffed with mattresses in a building the council deemed to be unsafe.

But that is the tip of the iceberg.

The facility I visited in Oldham was run with mice which kept the children awake at night as they eat through the skirting boards. Residents were in single rooms with cooking hobs placed next to beds, extractors not working, and a dim single light to the whole room. Shared bathroom faculties across corridors meant even bathing children for school the next day was an event in itself. Again each room would draw thousands from the local council.

Around 1 in 5 cases were a result of an end in private tenancy, and the Renters Rights Act will finally deal with no fault evictions, something the Labour government promised and has delivered.

But we need to address the artificial market being fuelled by government itself; Local Authority temporary accommodation, Home Office asylum dispersed accommodation, Ministry of Justice follow on accommodation all act in competition in driving up prices, rewarding low quality housing and changing the face of neighbourhoods as family homes are lost to HMOs.

There is real human cost to this crisis and it needs all of government to work together to solve it. I want to see families housed in a safe, affordable and decent home and rogue private landlords who have exploited this crisis put out of business.

Head to my Facebook page to see a clip of my contribution to the debate.