Dying for want of social housing
The deaths of 584 homeless people across England in 2017 are linked to the roll-out of Universal Credit, and the increasing shortage of social housing
The failure of consecutive governments to build anywhere near enough social housing to meet demand has led to a record number of people dying homeless on England’s streets. There were 584 such victims in 2017, a rise by more than 20 per cent from just two years earlier.
The figures, which were released the week before Christmas by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), are the first ever to provide official estimates on the number of people dying homeless in the UK.
Chief Executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, Jon Sparkes, described the ONS figures as “nothing short of a national tragedy”.
Analysis of additional government data shows that homeless deaths are more likely in those regions where Universal Credit has been rolled-out to more benefits recipients. The same is true for regions where more households are on the waiting list for council housing.
“In one of the world’s wealthiest countries, no one should be dying because of homelessness,” said Sparkes. “It’s imperative that governments act now to stop this tragedy once and for all.”
11 people on average died homeless every week in 2017, with five of those dying in either London or the North West, where respectively 136 and 119 homeless people died throughout the year.
That London accounts for such a high proportion is unsurprising, since one in four rough sleepers in England can be found on the capital’s concrete carpet. In fact, when adjusted for regional differences in population, the number of rough sleepers generally falls the further north you go.
And yet, the population-adjusted figures for deaths among the homeless show a starkly different picture: homeless deaths among residents of the North West are more frequent than anywhere else in the country.
Our analysis of various regional data indicates two clear risk factors: the roll-out of universal credit, and unmet demand for social housing.
Social rented housing is owned and managed by social landlords — generally either a local authority (council) or a housing association — with rents pegged to local incomes to ensure affordability.
For the most part, households must apply to their local council in order to move into social housing. Applicants who are given ‘reasonable preference’ are given priority on the waiting list, and it is only these who are likely to be housed.
To qualify for reasonable preference, applicants must either:
- be homeless, or threatened with homelessness;
- be living in overcrowded or unsanitary conditions, or;
- need to move for medical or welfare reasons.
Analysis of additional ONS data reveals a strong regional correlation between the rate of homeless deaths and the proportion of households on the waiting list for social housing.
Although the number of homeless deaths is rising nationally, paradoxically, the waiting list for social housing is falling. This is down to a single piece of legislation: the Localism Act 2011.
The Act enabled councils to introduce new measures requiring housing applicants to prove their connection to the area. This could either mean they have lived in the area for a number of years (three out of the last five years, for instance), or that they have friends and family living there.
A survey by Inside Housing magazine in 2016 found that since the introduction of these new powers 159 councils had removed 237,793 households from their waiting lists, and barred a further 42,994 new applicants.
In the five years following the introduction of local connection eligibility criteria, the number of households on the council housing waiting list has shrunk by nearly 700,000.
But this is in no way a reflection of falling demand — the number of households accepted onto the waiting list has continued to rise annually, with 17.5 per cent more added to the list in 2017 than five years earlier.
Despite rising demand, the number of properties designated for social renting has fallen over the same period, and it is those regions with the greatest unmet demand that see the most people dying homeless on its streets.
Following the passage of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) launched a pilot scheme for Universal Credit in April 2013.
As of the end of September 2013, just over 2,000 people were claiming Universal Credit (UC) across four pilot areas in the North West of England. Since November of that year UC has gradually been rolled out to the rest of the country.
April 2016 was the first month in which UC was being claimed by residents from every local authority in England, and by October 2018 more than 1 million people had been transferred to new benefit.
The purpose of UC was to simplify the benefits system by combining several means-tested benefits into one single payment, but the roll-out of the new scheme has been consistently plagued with controversy.
Figures recently obtained by BBC’s Panorama found that on average UC claimants owed £662.56 in rent arrears — £400 higher than those still on housing benefit.
According to data released by the House of Commons Library, nearly 20 per cent of all households claiming benefits in the North West have been transferred to UC, whereas just over 10 per cent of claimants in the East Midlands have made the switch.
Comparison of this data shows a strong regional correlation between the proportion of households on UC and the rate of homeless people dying.
It is not simply the case, either, that the rate of homeless deaths is higher where a larger proportion of households claim benefits. Although that is also true — there is a moderate correlation — the relationship between the rates of homeless deaths and households on UC a lot stronger.
“Behind these statistics are human beings — mothers, fathers, daughters and sons — whose families will now be spending Christmas coming to terms with their loss,” said Crisis Chief Executive, Jon Sparkes.
“This has to change.”
Reflective log available at: https://medium.com/@patrickelliotjournalist/reflective-log-ma-data-project-1fd3084e2453
