CRISIS UK are urging the UK Government to commit to increasing housing benefit, so it covers the true cost of rent.
Four in 10 low-income families will need to skip meals in order to pay for their housing this Christmas season.
Crisis UK together with Opinium have carried out a survey of 2000 struggling families, alongside in-depth interviews with people living on the brink of homelessness.
These bleak findings present insight into how the UK Government is failing to support households through the devastating increase in energy costs, soaring inflation and rising rent prices.
One individual told Crisis about their painful decision to pawn their wedding ring in order to cover their monthly costs.
More than two-thirds of Britons said their overall household spending had increased in the past 12 months, despite less than one-third saying their overall household income had increased in the same period.
On releasing the report Crisis have stated that without urgent intervention, Britain faces the real risk of a massive spike in homelessness.
The findings come at a time when rents in Britain are rising at their fastest annual rate for 16 years, and record numbers of people are facing eviction.
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These factors, alongside a chronically unfilled gap between social housing need and social housing supply mean there is a woeful shortage of housing for people on low incomes.
This epidemic is having damaging effects on people’s well being and mental health, as the study notes that more than 1 in 4 said they worry most days about how to cover housing costs
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “As we approach Christmas, the outlook across Britain is extremely bleak. People are being forced out of their homes because of unaffordable housing costs.
“They’re enduring freezing conditions, going without food and unable to visit family because their budgets simply don’t stretch that far.
“Everyone should have a safe and settled home, but the UK Government is failing Britain’s poorest households.
“Despite some positive action on homelessness in recent years, it is nowhere near enough amid rising evictions and more and more people needing help with cost of living.
“The tide must turn if we are to prevent homelessness, but this can only happen if the genuinely affordable homes we desperately need are built and the UK Government invests in housing benefit to cover the true cost of rent.”
A man using a wheelchair due to a spinal injury was facing homelessness due to outstanding rent payments. He explained how he was living ‘from food bank to food bank’: “It’s one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do, spreading so little amount of money out over the monthly period to just survive.”
A woman who had to pawn her wedding ring to cover monthly costs said: “I had had that ring on most of my life, and then to have to be in a situation where you’ve got to sell probably one of your last treasures, and it’s like you’ve just got to do it.
“So, I pawned it … that month I thought great, I’m able to buy a bit of food and maybe pay an extra bill or put some more petrol in the car, but you can’t keep doing that because I don’t have any more jewellery.”
Crisis UK will provide support services at three hotels and four day centres in London, plus Crisis Skylight centres around Britain. The charity is calling on the public to donate what they can this Christmas.
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