Homelessness Charity, Shelter England, has published figures this week showing that Milton Keynes has over 2300 people homeless and living either in temporary accommodation or on the streets.
Shelter names Milton Keynes as the second worst area in the South East for homelessness with 1 in every 110 people homeless. But highlights this could be an under-estimate.
Council Leader Pete Marland described the homelessness position in Milton Keynes as damning upon a Government that refuses to free the Council to build homes.
Cllr Marland said, “This latest report from Shelter highlights that several thousand people are homeless in Milton Keynes. This week we have over 270 households in temporary accommodation and I suspect this may grow with interest rates starting to rise. If anything the report under-estimates the scale of people sleeping on the streets or sleeping on the floor in friends’ houses. It is a stark indictment of a Government that refuses to act and of two Tory MPs who refuse to back Council demands to free the Council to build new homes.”
Cabinet member for Adult Social Care and Housing Cllr Nigel Long added, “Milton Keynes Council is building 200 new council houses, but it is not enough. We need thousands. We have also increased support for rough sleepers. But fundamentally the only real answer is to build truly affordable new housing.”
What is clear is that Milton Keynes is in the top 50 worst areas in the Country for homelessness. In the South East of England only Brighton has a higher level of homelessness.
Cllr Marland concluded, “The Council has been working to improve its support for rough sleepers and to help the 720 plus households in temporary accommodation. But ultimately only a change in Government policy that frees up Milton Keynes to invest will start to solve the problem.“
Meanwhile, City MPs Mark Lancaster and Iain Stewart said:
"It is disappointing to see Labour, once again, trying to score political points when it comes to such an important issue. We have stated that we will work together with all stakeholders including the Council when it comes to solving homelessness and rough sleeping. We have encouraged the Council to bid for every potential funding stream available and that includes the Government’s new £2billion pot to build Council homes.
We have also set out our four point plan and are putting that into action. In the next few weeks we have a roundtable event, a visit to the Winter Night Shelter and will be securing a meeting with the Housing Minister."
Both MP's also quoted the following in response to Labour's statement
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In October the Prime Minister announced a £2billion funding boost to build more social housing, including council homes.
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In 2014 the number of people in temporary accommodation in Milton Keynes was at 140. In July this year it was around 750.
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Labour took control of Milton Keynes Council in 2014 and made a number of changes to the housing policies including moving away from private landlords and slowing the Council house building programme.
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The Government is investing £950 million by 2020 to tackle all forms of homelessness, and bringing in the Homelessness Reduction Act. This requires councils to provide early support to people at risk of being left without anywhere to go.
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In 2011 the Government gave councils the power to place families in affordable private rented homes so they can move into settled accommodation more quickly.
