One in 81 people are homeless in Manchester according to the Housing Charity Shelter with total of 6,848 people living in the city currently without a home and an estimated 68 people sleeping rough on the streets on any one night.
Manchester, it says has the worst homelessness figures outside of London and the South East with London comingout worst, with one in 53 people now homeless in the capital
In total more than 274,000 people are homeless in England right now, including 126,000 children, according to the new research.
Shelter’s detailed analysis of official rough-sleeping and temporary accommodation figures shows that one in every 206 people in England are currently without a home. Of these, 2,700 people are sleeping rough on any given night, nearly 15,000 single people in direct access hostels and nearly 250,000 people are living in temporary accommodation – most of whom are families.
Covid protections such as the ‘Everyone In’ scheme, the eviction ban, and the boost to Universal Credit played a vital role in keeping people in their homes and suppressing homelessness during the pandemic. Now Shelter is warning with these protections gone, living costs soaring and another uncertain winter ahead, there is a risk of the flood gates reopening and thousands more people losing their homes.
Shelter is calling on the public to support its frontline workers who have been inundated with calls to its emergency helpline from people facing homelessness this winter. The charity says it’s hearing from people who are facing a night on the streets in freezing conditions after being turned away from emergency accommodation. As well as thousands of families in dire straits living in grotty hostel rooms where parents and siblings are forced to share beds, and there are only communal facilities.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “We predicted the pandemic would trigger a rising tide of evictions and our services are starting to see the reality of this now. We’re flooded with calls from families and people of all ages who are homeless or on the verge of losing their home.”
