50% of individuals have been forced to choose their pets over housing or face homelessness
New polling from homeless charity St Mungo’s reveals new extent of the housing crisis and its impact on people sharing their lives with a pet. 50% of those surveyed reported being placed in situations where they were forced to choose between remaining with their pets or accessing housing. This situation is ever present, within the last 12 months, 43% of respondents experienced challenges in finding housing that allows pets. This is amplified for those between the ages of 18-24, where 70% experienced this, as well as 58% in Greater London. Furthermore, 48% have experienced discrimination when gaining housing because of pets, i.e. refused application to rent, being evicted, or being asked to part with their pets). 67% of respondents in privately rented accommodation have experienced this. The importance of pets cannot be understated, with 86% claiming to have been supported by their pet(s) in times of instability and difficulties. St Mungo’s recognise that pets can be a lifeline for someone experiencing homelessness. That’s why the charity offers pet-friendly accommodation to prevent people from facing the heartbreaking choice between a safe place to sleep and staying with their companion. Arwa Omaren, a former client of St Mungo’s experienced homelessness in the UK after fleeing war-torn Syria. She was forced to part with her golden retriever, Jacko, for three years, until he came to the UK via the charity War Paws. Since then, she has said they are ‘inseparable’. Before Jacko came into her life, Arwa described herself as ‘very lonely and depressed’, she dreamt of having a golden retriever and saw having a dog as ‘the best thing to light my life’. The two fell into homelessness in the UK due to her landlord selling her flat, Arwa losing her job, and the inability to find a place to live with a dog at such short notice. Arwa could find housing with her local council, but it would mean parting from Jacko, unthinkable to Arwa. The two slept rough, experiencing horrid situations, including waking to a drunk man touching Arwa, and then being led away by Jacko. She was connected with St Mungo’s via Streetlink. Arwa and Jacko were then placed in St Mungo’s accommodation. Arwa has since moved into a flat with her fiancé and welcomed a child into her family. Ish Camp, Regional Head at St Mungo’s says: ‘St Mungo’s is proud to welcome pets into our accommodation. We are one of the only charities to do so. We recognise that pets are a part of the family and can be a source of comfort and protection for those experiencing homelessness. ‘Many people are forced to choose between shelter and companionship, much like Arwa, and are placed in dangerous situations to ensure they aren’t separated. ‘Our service managers have seen the benefits of our clients being house with their pets, witnessing improvements in their mental, physical and emotional health.’ 87% of respondents say it is important to them that homeless charities provide accommodation that allows pets, similarly, 87% of respondents believe those experiencing homelessness should be able to remain with their pets. St Mungo’s, recognise that pets can be a lifeline for someone experiencing homelessness. That’s why we offer pet-friendly accommodation and wish to stop people from facing the choice between a safe place to sleep and staying with their companion. By supporting St Mungo’s, you could help save two lives. Learn more about St Mungo’s campaign during Pet Month and donate here: https://staging.mungos.org/petscampaign
St Mungo’s unveils vision for tackling homelessness with new strategic outline until 2030.
With the backdrop of a housing and homelessness crisis, St Mungo’s has launched its new six-year strategy. It sets out the charity’s goals to 2030, with forging successful partnerships to address and end homelessness as key. There has been a 27% increase in the number of people rough sleeping, with almost 4,000 people sleeping on the streets across England every night. Meanwhile, close to 80,000 households are now homeless or at risk of it. The organisation will use the new strategy as a north star to equip itself to make the greatest difference, focusing on two clear missions: to directly support clients to find paths away from homelessness, for good. to use our clients’ voices and our operational expertise to influence policy and system change. The organisation’s previous strategy was written in 2021, achieving success across service delivery initiatives and adapting to the aftermath of the pandemic and rising challenges of the cost-of-living crisis. Each year the charity helps nearly 30,000 people facing homelessness. With a commitment to being an innovative, collaborative and expert charity, a new strategy was jointly developed through consultation across St Mungo’s with over 1,000 colleagues and 800 clients, to articulate an approach that is resilient in a world that has changed significantly over recent years. The 55-year-old charity has also revealed a refreshed visual identity this week, which will help to position the charity as a leading voice to influence necessary change in the years ahead. Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, said: “I am really pleased to build on the excellent work delivered by colleagues across St Mungo’s over the years by taking us into a new phase with a strategy that sets the direction for the next six years. Homelessness is getting worse. We see it in the official numbers with close to 4,000 people sleeping rough across England every night, and almost 80,000 households homeless or at risk of it. And we see it every day in our services: our outreach teams struggling to respond to the increasing number of people on the streets; our hostels at capacity; the lack of affordable and appropriate housing. The trauma of homelessness damages too many lives. We enter 2024 with a renewed commitment to help end homelessness and rebuild lives. We will continue to support people away from homelessness, for good. And we will continue to elevate our clients’ voices and use our operational expertise to push for the system change that is needed. To do the best for our clients means putting the wellbeing and support of our dedicated teams central to any strategy. I have the upmost respect for our teams across St Mungo’s, who face challenges daily in finding people a permanent solution away from homelessness – a key future focus is to ensure St Mungo’s is always a truly inclusive and great place to work.” St Mungo’s Trustee, John Watts, said: “I have been homeless for 12 years and currently live in a hostel in Kings Cross. St Mungo’s matters to me because it is where my advocacy for my community, people experiencing homelessness, began. We empower our clients in decisions that impact them; decisions that impact St Mungo’s; and decisions that have influence beyond St Mungo’s. To make the difference we know we can, strategy is crucial. Only with unity and collaboration from all of us: across the sector; government; and beyond, will this travesty be ended. And as the adage goes, everything starts at home, and that for me was with St Mungo’s.” Read the full strategy
“This is avoidable.” Joint Letter to the Home Secretary
Dear Home Secretary, We write to you as members of key organisations within the homelessness, housing and refugee sectors to express our deepest concerns about current Government practices which are causing unprecedented levels of homelessness, including rough sleeping, among newly granted refugees. The Government’s own target was to end rough sleeping by 2024. Yet Government statistics show that from July to December 2023 there was a 965.91% increase in people sleeping rough over the course of a month who had left asylum support in the previous 85 days. In July there were 42 people found to be sleeping rough who had left asylum support in the previous 85 days. By December this number had reached 469. We know the total number of people being made homeless is much higher, and that people are also sleeping in churches, stations or on the floor of hotel rooms of other people seeking asylum. Government policy is contributing to further rough sleeping rather than preventing it. This is avoidable. We welcome the extra decision-making that is enabling people seeking asylum to receive outcomes on their asylum claims. But the drive to close hotels is pushing newly granted refugees onto the streets, where local authorities and the charity sector are having to step in without sufficient funding or resources to address this issue, and the experience of homelessness will make accessing employment and housing harder. There are specific, targeted and easily implementable changes to policy and process which could avoid the human misery of forcing newly granted refugees onto the streets, save money across the system, and help end rough sleeping rather than feed it. None of this would work against the ambition of ending the use of hotels for people seeking asylum. We therefore urge you to take the following immediate actions to help tackle this altogether preventable homelessness: Extend the move-on period from 28 days to at least 56 days to bring it in line with local authorities’ duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act to enable people to have more time to find suitable move on accommodation and access the support they are entitled to. Stagger large numbers of evictions from Home Office accommodation and reasonably delay them for a few days if the person is working with their local authority or a third sector organisation to prevent their homelessness in line with the Homelessness Reduction Act. Commit to working with the third sector to jointly create a comprehensive and properly funded transition process for people whose asylum support is due to end, that enables information and support around housing and benefits to be given as far in advance as possible. Rough sleeping is a terrible and perverse outcome of people being granted leave to remain in the UK. We want to work in partnership with your department to avoid this happening. We look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Dr Emma Haddad, Chief Executive, St Mungo’s Matt Downie, Chief Executive, Crisis Polly Neate, Chief Executive, Shelter Enver Solomon, Chief Executive, Refugee Council Phil Kerry, Chief Executive, New Horizon Youth Centre Mick Clarke, Chief Executive, The Passage Sally Daghlian, Chief Executive, Praxis Kate Henderson, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation Bill Tidnam, Chief Executive, Thames Reach Rick Henderson, Chief Executive, Homeless Link Kathy Mohan, Chief Executive, Housing Justice Alex Bax, Chief Executive, Pathway Jean Templeton, Chief Executive, St Basils Bridget Young, Director, NACCOM Carly Whyborn, Interim Executive Director, Refugees at Home Sal Copley, Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs, British Red Cross Cc. Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Housing and Homelessness, Felicity Buchan MP; Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride MP; Minister of State for Countering Illegal Migration, Michael Tomlinson KC MP; Minister of State for Legal Migration and the Border, Tom Pursglove MP.
Spring Budget Statement 2024
“Following the Chancellor’s announcements today, in what will be the Government’s last Spring Budget before a general election, it is disappointing that there were no announcements to address the ongoing homelessness crisis we are seeing across the country. Last week, the Government’s annual rough sleeping snapshot showed that there was a 27% increase in rough sleeping. This is the second year in a row there has been a dramatic increase. 2024 is the year in which the Government committed to end rough sleeping by, but instead we are seeing the crisis escalating. Against this backdrop, it is concerning that the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) funding is due to end in 2025 which funds vital services for those at risk of rough sleeping. In our submission to the Spring Budget, we called for an extension to this funding so that RSI-funded services do not face a cliff-edge in 2025. This is just one example of what could be implemented to help tackle the crisis. Last week’s worrying figures highlight the need to significantly bolster efforts to end rough sleeping, not scale back. As we move closer to a general election this year, we will continue to push for this change, as well as other key asks to help tackle the homelessness crisis.”
Increase in homelessness stats paints a bleak picture for those on London’s streets
New data was released today (31 January 2024) by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) which covers October to December 2023. In total, 4389 people were recorded as rough sleeping in London between October-December 2023, this is an increase of 23% on the same period last year. 2283 people rough sleeping for the first time, a 34% increase on the same figure this time last year and with new rough sleepers accounting for 52% the total. 560 people deemed to be living on the streets, 16% higher than the immediately preceding period (July-September)?and 24% higher year over year. 1610 people were intermittently rough sleeping, 10% higher than the same period last year. Across November to January 2024, St Mungo’s responded to the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) across London, bringing hundreds of people in per night to safe accommodation and following up pathways of recovery, housing and health support to bring clients off the streets for good. With the bitter weather looming again for February, the organisation is calling for emergency support to be introduced, until Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are unfrozen in April. The Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) funding, due to end in a year’s time, should also be extended to offer some certainty against the backdrop of the homelessness crisis. These shocking stats come at a time where most Local Authorities are preparing their budgets for the new financial year, with Councils last week warning of a potential collapse due to the demand for temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention. Homelessness organisations are also facing similar challenges in keeping up with demand and this release serves as a stark reminder for renewed action from Government. Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, Emma Haddad, said: “Figures evidencing the picture of homelessness in our capital have once again seen a really worrying rise. This is not a surprise – our outreach teams across London have been inundated with new people arriving onto the streets. The shortage of affordable and appropriate housing is leaving far too many people vulnerable. We urge the Government to take measures that would halt the escalating numbers of people who are sleeping rough and having to spend their nights in the cold.” She continued: “Homelessness is preventable but St Mungo’s frontline workers are too often trying to help people out of the cold who didn’t need to end up there in the first place. We are calling for emergency support to get people into housing until Local Housing Allowance rates are unfrozen in April and, with the bitter weather looming again for February, we need a pause on evictions from Home Office asylum accommodation when the severe weather occurs.”
St Mungo’s successfully awarded largest new contract to revolutionise helping homeless people in the capital
St Mungo’s is thrilled to announce it will continue to deliver the Mayor’s No Second Night Out service, which is an innovative and integral service to help those experiencing rough sleeping and homelessness in the capital. No Second Night Out (NSNO) which has been delivered by leading charity St Mungo’s since 2011 now plays a vital role in ending rough sleeping in London. In 2022/23, the service assisted 1,887 people, approximately 19% of were those observed sleeping rough in London. 87.5% of those supported through NSNO did not return to rough sleeping. The new contract term, which launches on 1st April, will be delivered across a network of assessment hubs and single room accommodation, including two new sites in West and Central London –adding to the existing network of sites. No Second Night Out is now the largest assessment service commissioned in the UK for people experiencing rough sleeping. The St Mungo’s team will build upon years of expert knowledge, learning and proven success to tailor accessible and sustainable routes away from the street and the dangers that the most vulnerable in our communities’ face. NSNO client, Patience, said: “I would describe my experience in NSNO as great and a step in the right direction! Away from the cold, I felt safe and grateful to have someone to talk to. Staffs were very helpful, and I had everything I needed. My safe space stay was extended by the team before I was moved to staging post and I am grateful for this” Emma Haddad, CEO at St Mungo’s, said: “St Mungo’s NSNO is a critical service to address homelessness and help people off the streets for good. It’s quite literally a lifeline. I am so pleased that our charity will continue to use our expertise to deliver the service over the coming years, where it will no doubt be vitally needed. Our expert teams work tirelessly to ensure NSNO means a route away from the streets and onto a journey of recovery and achieving ambitions. With today’s CHAIN data showing numbers of people experiencing homelessness continuing to worsen, this support is more important than ever.” The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The latest figures for rough sleeping on London’s streets are very worrying. The cost-of-living crisis, rising rents and benefit cuts have created the perfect storm forcing people into homelessness. “That’s why I am proud to fund services such as No Second Night Out which assesses each person’s individual situation and provides tailored support. This new contract will boost the support available London-wide and help ensure that those sleeping rough can access the vital help they need. “As Mayor, I’m determined to do everything I can to end rough sleeping in the capital for good, and build a better, fairer London for all.”
The impact of unmet care needs amongst people experiencing homelessness
Matt Bawden and James Lally, Service Directors and Leads for Health and Care at St Mungo’s recently contributed to an article published by the Clinical Medicine Journal, a Royal College of Physicians publication. Here they discuss their work on the survey, and how it ties into our critical work to support the health of people experiencing homelessness. People living in homeless hostels: a survey of health care needs, a project undertaken by St Mungo’s in collaboration with Transformation Partners in Health and Care and Marie Curie with the support of 8 other hostel providers. The work expands on the work in our Life Changing Care report and incorporates findings from 58 hostels across London bringing our findings around health and care needs in our service settings to an all-new audience. Being involved in this research has helped highlight the prevalence and impact of unmet care needs amongst people experiencing homelessness. Work initially began on the Life Changing Care report with Matt and Dr Caroline Shulman. At the time Caroline was Co-Clinical Lead for the Homeless Health programme, Transformation Partners in Health and Care. Caroline has long highlighted the unmet needs amongst hostel populations, so she helped us to design a questionnaire for use in our services at St Mungo’s which quantified the needs of our clients. This formed the basis of our Life Changing Care report which was published last year. The research highlighted the challenges that people experiencing homelessness face when accessing care. It also confirmed that many are forced to access accommodation that does not adequately meet their needs as a consequence. It also confirmed the need for more specialist care homes such as those already provided by St Mungo’s, Hilldrop Road and Chichester Road. As such, Matt has been leading a working group to develop policy, guidance and training for colleagues. This aims to better equip staff to understand Care Act legislation including powers and duties as well as to refer and escalate/challenge decisions when appropriate. We hope this will further support achieving better outcomes for clients with unmet care needs. Following the success of our Life Changing Care report, the questionnaire was then amended slightly and rolled out across a number of partner organisations. Both data collection exercises were then used for the basis of the People living in homeless hostels: a survey of health care needs article. The research within both the report and the article has been a powerful tool to evidence unmet care needs amongst people experiencing homelessness. We are using it to design a Complex Needs Care Service which we hope can meet the needs of this incredibly vulnerable group; working in partnership with a broad range of partners in doing so. The new service would be aimed at people who we believe have Care Act eligible needs but are currently without an agreed care package or placement. Find out more about our Health Services here.
Rough sleeping is not a lifestyle choice – St Mungo’s responds to Home Secretary
St Mungo’s is deeply concerned by the Home Secretary’s recent comments on homelessness and rough sleeping. Rough sleeping is not a ‘lifestyle choice’ but the result of many complex factors. The Government should be focusing on the chronic shortage of housing and statutory support services, rather than condemning vulnerable people and the organisations that prevent them from dying on the streets. Latest statistics show record numbers of people forced into rough sleeping. It is ironic that currently one of the biggest drivers of homelessness is the government’s approach to clearing the backlog of asylum claims. It is the government’s choice that people are sleeping in tents, not a lifestyle choice. St Mungo’s priority is to find people a path out of homelessness. The Government must ensure no-one finds themselves there in the first place, and unfreezing housing benefit so that people can actually afford a proper roof over their heads must be the government’s biggest priority. St Mungo’s has co-signed a letter to the Home Secretary, asking her to urgently reconsider proposals to criminalise the use of tents by people sleeping rough: https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/open-letter-to-home-secretary-suella-braverman-on-government-proposals-to-criminalise-the-use-of-tents-by-people-sleeping-rough/ Background: Rough sleeping figures releases in October 2023 show that: In total, 4068 people were recorded as rough sleeping in the capital between Jul-Sep 2023, this is an increase of 12% on the same period last year. 2086 people rough sleeping for the first time, a 13% increase on the same figure this time last year. 481 people deemed to be living on the streets, 17% higher than the immediately preceding period (Apr-Jun) 1561 people were intermittently rough sleeping, 16% higher than the same period last year. St Mungo’s provides a variety of services to help people off the streets and recover from homelessness. These include outreach, hostels and supported accommodation, as well as immigration advice, mental health support and provision for victims of domestic violence. Additionally, our Recovery College also provides a learning, training and employment service.
Thames Charity row raises thousands for St Mungo’s
This month, Group Director of Repairs and Maintenance at Peabody, Neil Watts presented a £16,000 cheque to St Mungo’s following a 200km row from Reading to Leigh on Sea, via London. Neil visited St Mungo’s Endsleigh Gardens to hand over the cheque and to see firsthand where the funds will make a difference to the lives of those recovering from homelessness. The Charity row on the River Thames was in memory of the late Lord Bob Kerslake, who was the Chair for the Peabody Trust. Lord Kerslake sadly passed away in July this year. Neil wanted to honour Bob’s work and his commitment to ending homelessness by rowing to raise funds for St Mungo’s. St Mungo’s is the secretariat for The Kerslake Commission. Neil, with a team of four, rowed for five days, went through 20 locks, weaved through heavy boat traffic and bridges and navigated some difficult weather conditions to reach the finish line. Neil said: “I was really excited to be taking part in this charity row, supporting St Mungo’s and our late chair, Bob. “It’s important to Peabody that we continue his incredible work, so choosing a charity that’s dedicated to ending homelessness is the perfect fit. “Thank you all for your generous support and in joining together in memory of Bob and his tremendous career of service”. Reta Robinson, Director of Fundraising at St Mungo’s said: “On behalf of everyone at St Mungo’s, we were deeply saddened to learn of the devastating passing of Lord Bob Kerslake. Bob was a dedicated champion of the homelessness sector, with a deep-rooted commitment to end rough sleeping. “We are extremely touched by Neil and the team fundraising for St Mungo’s whilst remembering Lord Kerslake’s life and legacy.”
Government figures show homelessness at record high amidst spiralling housing affordability crisis.
Today, Friday 13 October, new figures released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show that homelessness has reached a record high. 298,430 households faced homelessness in England in 2022/23, up by 6.8% compared to the previous year. The number of households in temporary accommodation was recorded at 104,510, also the highest on record. Rapidly rising rents and a lack of security means that there was a 27.4% increase in the number of households who faced homelessness due to a private rented tenancy coming to an end. Meanwhile there was a 30.5% increase in people assessed by the local authority as sleeping rough. Responding to these figures, Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, said: “Today sees yet more devastating evidence of how the lack of affordable housing is resulting in thousands of people unable to keep a roof over their heads and literally forcing people onto the streets. “It doesn’t have to be this way. There are interventions that would prevent people getting to the brink of homelessness and reverse this homelessness crisis. Today I have written to the Chancellor, along with colleagues across the sector, imploring him once again to raise housing benefit so that it covers the bottom 30% of local rents, as per the Government’s own stated policy, rather than just 5% of rented accommodation as now. The human impact is clear, as is the benefit to the public purse: the freeze on housing benefit is feeding a growing temporary accommodation bill that cost at least £1.6b last year.” First-person account from a London Outreach Worker at St Mungo’s The number of people we’re seeing on the streets is increasing. We’re seeing more people because of section 21 notices and landlords putting rent up and a lot younger people who we’d never see before. There are too many people for the provisions that we have. We need more spaces in services. In some areas there can be hotspots of 20-30 people sleeping rough and day centres can see up to 100 people coming a day sometimes. Often the people we’re seeing never would have traditionally used our services before. They’re people who have never rough slept and have gone to their local authorities but are still not being housed as their not high enough priority, so are slipping through the net. People are also moving through services slower. It’s so hard to get people into private rented now because rent prices are so much higher and are over the local housing allowance most of the time. So, we’re really struggling to match people with affordable property, which means people are having to stay on the streets longer, which is really difficult. Rough sleeping at any point is always going to be traumatic, living with that fear and feeling of becoming the ‘other’. But often the longer people are on the streets, the harder it can become to support them away. We’re seeing a lot younger people become homeless due to things like landlords raising their rent prices. If you’re under 35 and haven’t lived in supported accommodation or been in care, for example, for three months. You’re not exempt from the local housing tax. So, whilst you’d be entitled to a room in a shared house, with the rising rent costs, it just isn’t enough. The local housing allowance sometimes isn’t even covering the rents. And then if people are having to use a Universal Credit to cover that shortfall, it leaves them with nothing. Most people will get £320 a month, if you have to say take even 100 pounds out of that, it’s a significant amount. Often people become trapped in a benefit cycle where it isn’t affordable for them to get a job. Most of our clients don’t want to remain on credit, they want to find employment but it’s becoming harder. The effect of all of this is difficult. The focus of our team is doing assessments. If we meet someone tonight, we’ll be doing an assessment on the street, understanding how we can support them and what that action plan is to solve their homelessness. But often there’s not that immediate solution. So, you still have to walk away which is really tough. It’s heartbreaking walking away from people and not having a safe place you can give them. Compared to this time last year, this period feels much busier and the flow on the streets is faster. Whilst the move through services feels slower, as people are having to wait for longer term accommodation for longer. We’re also seeing more making self-referrals and actively asking for that help themselves. During the pandemic, rough sleeping was seen as a health emergency and eligibility wasn’t part of the equation of who was given housing because it was a life saving measure which was incredible. It really shone a light on what we can do with the right resources provided. But now we’ve moved away from that again and the options aren’t there. It’s not as straightforward as let’s get you inside and get you a good sleep which is frustrating. We’re also seeing people who are in employment becoming homeless, because a lot of the work that’s available like hospitality, isn’t near affordable housing. So, when they get a job they can’t be anywhere near where they’re working and to travel in and out of work is expensive. So, there’s often lots of layers.
