Press Release

Dawn Primarolo MP
Labour, Bristol South
19 January 2015
For immediate release

Bristol Housing Crisis two families become

homeless in Bristol every day
The latest Government figures have confirmed the scale of the housing crisis facing Bristol. In
just over two years the number of families accepted by Bristol City Council as being newly
homeless has nearly quadrupled.
At the same time Bristol Council has chosen to sell off homes to the private sector.
Reacting to the news Dawn Primarolo, Labour MP for Bristol South, said:
These figures are appalling and shame our city. In the first nine months of last year more than
500 families became homeless in Bristol. Every one of those families is an individual tragedy,
potentially forced to live in hostels or inappropriate bed and breakfast. This is just the tip of the
iceberg and does not take into account the many thousands of people living in overcrowded or
unsuitable accommodation.
A Freedom of Information Request has revealed that Bristol City Council has sold off hundreds
of homes in the last few years, most under Right to Buy but dozens have also been sold to
the private sector as uneconomic to repair.
Dawn said: These figures show that every day last summer two families a day were becoming
homeless.
It is clear that the current Government, and the Mayor of Bristol, do not see housing as a
priority. Rather than constructing the hundreds of affordable homes we need in Bristol South
we have just a handful.
Bristol City Council must review their sell-off strategy and we must force those developers who
are sitting on undeveloped sites to build, and demand they fulfil their obligations to provide
genuinely affordable homes to rent or buy.
Notes for editors

In the three months April-Jun 2012, 66 new households were accepted as homeless by Bristol
City Council, in the three months July-Sep 2014 the figure was 221.
The detailed figures can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

Responding to an FOI Request Bristol City Council indicted that, since 2010, 319 homes had
been sold under Right to Buy and further 75 homes as uneconomic.

For further information, please contact Dawn Primarolos constituency office on

dawn.primarolo.mp@parliament.uk or Joe Salter on 0117 909 0063