Too many people will be on the sharp end of the country’s “broken” housing system this Christmas, the Prime Minister has warned.
In a message to the Big Issue in this week’s Christmas special edition of the magazine, Sir Keir Starmer reflected on his history “fighting for families at risk of homelessness” and emphasises the need for “people with skin in the game” to be tasked with bringing down homelessness in the UK.
He wrote: “As winter closes in and temperatures drop, too many people will be on the sharp end of our broken housing system this Christmas.
“Big Issue has worked tirelessly to tackle homelessness over 33 years. When I was growing up, our home was my family’s security. It wasn’t much, maybe – just a semi-detached house in Surrey – but for me, it was the base camp from which I could learn and grow.
“Some years later, as a lawyer, many of my first cases were fighting for families at risk of homelessness, because I wanted every child to have that security I had.”
The Big Issue highlighted recent official figures which showed that 123,100 households were living in temporary accommodation by the end of June 2024 – 16.3% higher than the same quarter in 2023.
The Prime Minister wrote: “I’ve always believed people with skin in the game make the best decisions.
“That’s why we are also fixing the foundations of local government. We have already given councils more flexibility to use Right to Buy receipts to build and buy more social homes. That’s on top of an additional £450 million for councils to secure homes for families at risk of homelessness.”
Lord John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, who has challenged the Government to take harder action on homelessness, said: “This is a crisis our new Government must get to grips with, urgently. We can’t afford to wait for better economic times to roll over the hill.
“We must do all we can to deal with the crisis of homelessness and rough sleeping, but we have also to start reducing the number of people falling into it. The billion upon billion spent on people in poverty only maintains them in poverty; brings them relief, but not exit.”
