60,000 households with out houses whereas a whole lot of hundreds stand empty

Greater than 60,000 households in England are beginning the New Yr in insecure short-term lodging, at a time when 4 occasions as many houses sit empty.

Among the many households with out everlasting houses are 125,000 youngsters, whose schooling is disrupted by the necessity for frequent modifications of deal with.

Whereas the newest statistics present that 60,490 households with youngsters are in short-term lodging, some 268,000 houses in England had been classed earlier this month as “long run vacant”, that means they’ve been empty for greater than six months.

The figures had been revealed by new analysis from Liberal Democrats, who’re demanding that ministers make it a precedence in 2022 to safe everlasting houses for kids across the nation who want them, to keep away from additional disruption to their lives and schooling.

The occasion’s housing spokesperson Tim Farron mentioned that these affected embody households who’ve misplaced jobs as a result of Covid pandemic, weak individuals, and those that had been beforehand homeless.

And he mentioned that discovering them everlasting place to dwell was important for Boris Johnson to have the ability to declare he was fulfilling his guarantees to “construct again higher” and “stage up” the. nation.

“It’s an utter travesty that many hundreds of households will enter the New Yr fearful about the place to dwell whereas a swathe of houses are sitting empty,” mentioned the previous occasion chief.

“Non permanent lodging solely provides households a short respite over the chilly winter months. We all know that being pressured to maneuver a number of occasions causes enormous disruption, significantly for kids in schooling.

“We have to see extra long-term planning from the federal government, to help individuals into everlasting houses and a secure job to allow them to get again on their toes and rebuild their lives.

“Ministers should deal with getting everybody who’s in short-term housing this winter a everlasting place to dwell in 2022. Solely then can we actually purpose to stage up our communities and construct again higher.”

London has the best variety of youngsters in short-term lodging within the nation, with 42,290 households with out everlasting houses whereas 30,458 dwellings are empty for six months or extra.

Some native authorities with the best variety of households in short-term lodging even have hundreds of houses sitting empty.

In keeping with the Lib Dem figures, these embody Birmingham, the place 2,900 households are in short-term lodging and 5,386 are long-term vacant; Southwark,  with 1,491 households in short-term lodging and a pair of,358 long-term empty houses; and Manchester, with 1,713 households in short-term lodging and 1,455 long-term empty houses.