Almost 30,000 lone parent

families made homeless in

England in 2017

Almost 30,000 single parent families were made homeless last year,
up 8% on five years ago, according to new official figures.

Housing charity Shelter said government figures also reveal that

nearly three-quarters of homeless households in England are lone
parent families.

Shelter said lone parents were bearing the brunt of the housing
crisis, by juggling part-time work and childcare.

The government said it was investing £1.2bn in tackling

homelessness.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Of the thousands of

families battling with the grim reality of homelessness, the vast
majority are single parents."

Their limited incomes make it hard for them to contend with high
private rents and welfare cuts, she added.

'Safety net?'

Dalia Ben-Galim, policy director at charity Gingerbread, said more

and more single 

parents were reaching out to the charity for advice and support
when facing eviction and homelessness.

"The vast majority of single parents are working.

"But with a perfect storm of rising living costs, stagnating wages

and changes to the benefit system eroding an essential safety net
for families, single parents are hard hit and struggling to keep a roof
above their children's heads."
She added that Universal Credit and the benefit cap must be
reformed to reduce the disproportionate negative impact changes
are having on single parents.

The vast majority of families with children will be housed in

temporary accommodation rather than being left to sleep rough.

The statistics, published on Thursday, also show the number of

households in temporary accommodation has risen by nearly two-
thirds since 2010.

'Dangerous'

On 31 December last year, 78,930 households were in temporary

accommodation, up 64% since the start of the decade.

The figure was also 4% higher than last year, when there were
75,740.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of homeless charity Crisis, said:

"Temporary accommodation is often cramped, unsuitable and
sometimes even dangerous.

"It can have a devastating impact on people's lives and mental

health, and it's no place for anyone to call home."

Homelessness minister Heather Wheeler said: "Government is

serious about reducing homelessness and rough sleeping - we're
investing £1.2bn to 2020 to address the issue and next month sees
the most ambitious legislation in decades to prevent homelessness
come into force.

"These latest statistics show encouraging signs that our investment

and targeted support for local authorities is having a positive
impact."

Great Portland Street squatters

ordered to leave
Activists who took over a building in central London to help house,
feed and support homeless people have been told they must leave.

The four-storey building in Great Portland Street was taken over by

the group and renamed the Sofia Solidarity Centre to use as a
shelter.

Volunteers say the building has been empty for 15 years and has
become home to about 150 people.

But a judge backed an eviction order and said the building must be
emptied.

Steve Broe, a volunteer at the building, said the shelter had saved
lives and had become "not just a place for people to sleep and eat
but to find themselves back in their true selves".

"If you end up on the street it's very hard to back from there. It's a
very, very tough environment," he said.

He added that the prospect of residents having to leave was "very,

very concerning", especially with temperatures set to fall in the
coming days.

Auga, who has been at the centre for the past two nights, described
it as being "like a medicine".

"It's like everyone is helping together... it's not good if we have to

leave," he said.

However, local residents have said they have seen people urinating
outside the building and are worried about drunkenness and
aggressive behaviour.

The judge agreed with landlord of the building that those staying in
the shelter had no right to be there and granted a possession order.

Windsor and Maidenhead council

'left disabled man to sofa-surf'
A disabled man was left to sleep rough and "sofa-surf" for more than
three months because a council did not act quickly enough to find
him accommodation, an ombudsman has said.

The man asked Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead for help
just before Christmas 2015, the Local Government and Social Care
Ombudsman said.

He was then placed in "unsuitable" accommodation for 12 months.

The council, which has been ordered to pay him £4,175, has
apologised.

It said all recommendations had since been implemented.

Third-floor flat

The ombudsman's investigation found the council first offered the

man, who has mental and physical health conditions,
accommodation in Guildford, Kent and Southall but he was given no
way of getting there.

Other places deemed unsuitable included a third-floor flat that

"caused him pain" to access, it said.

When the man complained, the council "mishandled" his complaint

and did not keep proper records of its dealings with him, it added.

He was eventually offered a permanent home in March 2017.

Michael King, the ombudsman, said the council needed to improve

its complaint handling "and the responses it offers to my office's
enquiries".

"It should not need to take the threat of witness summons for the
council to provide evidence," he added.

The council said it was "committed to providing residents with a

good service".