Cost of living: homelessness at ‘highest ever’ level says Sheffield Council

Officers said there were more than 4,000 homeless people reported in Sheffield across the last financial year and 500 more this year compared to the previous.

They revealed the details in a report prepared for a meeting of the housing committee next week.

In it they said: “This reflects the increase in demand we are currently seeing across Sheffield. Councils across England are reporting similar rises in homeless presentations, with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis being amongst reported reasons for this.”

There was also a sustained increase in people living in temporary accommodation this year.

In the first quarter of the last financial year, there were 437 households living in temporary homes and this rocketed to 575 by the end of the year.

“This is significantly above the service’s target of 310 and reflects a worrying increase in the number of people living in insecure housing,” officers said. “We are responding to this rising demand with plans to increase our stock of temporary accommodation which should help us better cope with high demand in the year ahead.

“We know that temporary accommodation offers just a short-term relief to people experiencing homelessness and we continue to work with the target of offering more long-term solutions for people.”

The housing committee will discuss the issues in a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, June 8 and the full agenda and council documents can be found here: https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=644&MId=8840