HOMELESSNESS has soared by more than 40 per cent in York, according to new figures.
The increase is bigger than anywhere else in the region, apart from Hambleton and Scarborough, says York council leader James Alexander.
He claimed yesterday that high rents in the city were a key factor in the rise, as they meant people could no longer afford their rent when they lost their jobs.
He said the statistics, supplied by the Local Government Association, supported calls for the City of York Council area to be treated as a special case under Government proposals to cap housing benefit regionally.
The figures, which relate to the number of households assessed as requiring a duty to be treated as homeless by their local authority, show a 40.8 per cent increase in York from 130 households in 2009/10 to 183 in 2010/11.
Selby’s figure rose by the same percentage, from 49 to 69, Ryedale’s increased by 29.4 per cent, from 17 to 22, and East Riding of Yorkshire’s jumped by 32.5 per cent, from 354 to 469.
Hambleton saw a 42.6 per cent rise, from 47 to 67, while Scarborough’s figure increased by 41.3 per cent, from 104 to 147.
Coun Alexander described York’s increase as “extremely alarming”.
He said: “Behind every number is a person and a family. Only Hambleton and Scarborough had a larger increase in the region.”
He claimed Government changes had seen 800 York residents losing on average £40 a month housing benefit and as York had the highest rents in Yorkshire, Labour wanted it to be made a special case or risk York becoming a “cardboard city.”
His comments come after the housing charity Shelter warned last month that York would be hit harder by the housing benefit changes than anywhere else in the north of England, and York Central MP Hugh Bayley revealed he had written to the housing minister to ask him to treat York differently and more fairly when he is setting rates for housing benefits.
Everyone needs to have a home
THERE are few needs more basic than somewhere to call home. Yet even that is no longer something we can take for granted.
Over the past year, the number of households in York officially treated as homeless has risen by 40 per cent: up from 130 to 183.
Behind every one of those numbers is a person or a family. Not all will be literally living on the streets, but they will all be facing the most extreme uncertainty, worry and hardship.
Elsewhere in our region the figures reveal a similar pattern: clear evidence of the way the post-recession gloom is affecting families.
James Alexander, York’s Labour council leader, says the pressure on struggling families will only get worse if the Government presses ahead with its housing benefit changes.
He believes that because rents are high in York the city should be treated as a special case under Government proposals to cap housing benefits. Otherwise York risks becoming a ‘cardboard city’, he said.
That may be an exaggeration, but rents are high. Housing charity Shelter warned last week the city would be hit harder by housing benefit changes than anywhere else in the north.
York Central’s Labour MP Hugh Bayley has written to the housing minister pleading for the city to be treated more fairly when it comes to setting housing benefits. For the sake of the city’s growing number of homeless families, we hope the minister listens.
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