Homelessness is a 'political choice', MPs told as they return to parliament

MPs returning from recess have been greeted with a plea to tackle record-high homelessness beamed onto the Houses of Parliament.

Amnesty International UK and Groundswell shone the message: “Homelessness is a political choice” in Westminster as well as pleas to recognise the issue is a health problem on Tower Bridge and the human right to a home on the Angel of the North.

The two charities have launched a new charter to ensure policymakers collaborate with individuals with lived experience of homelessness as they come up with solutions to the ongoing crisis.

A total of 317,430 households in England experienced homelessness in 2023 with 117,000 households living in temporary accommodation, including more than 145,000 children. 

Meanwhile, the number of people living on the streets is also on the rise with 11,993 rough sleepers spotted in London alone between April 2023 and March 2024.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner will lead a cross-government taskforce on homelessness and rough sleeping and the Labour deputy leader has been warned urgent action is needed.

Jen Clark, economic and social rights lead at Amnesty International UK, said: “Together with Groundswell, Amnesty have delivered the demands from people who have lived experience of homelessness across England to the home of democracy to make their pleas for change impossible to ignore. 

“With an unprecedented homelessness crisis, and winter looming, the return to parliament can’t come soon enough for people experiencing homelessness. Policymakers can’t fob them off with promised long term building projects and must act swiftly to protect the everyday human rights like the right to housing, health and social security for people who have no place to call home.”

Amnesty International UK and Groundswell’s new charter, titled Ending Homelessness Together—Our Voice, Our Rights,’ comes as the charities insist the homelessness crisis is infringing peoples’ human rights.

The charter sets out four key priorities for the UK government, including recognising homelessness as a health issue to address health inequalities and better financial support for renters and people on benefits.

Better housing is all needed – including more social housing, regulation of the private rented sector and recognising housing as a human right – while the government must also inform every policy decision based on people who have experienced homelessness, the charter added.

That final priority was the inspiration behind the stunts with a video appeal from Tony, who was involved with the development of the charter, among the messages beamed onto landmarks.

He said: “As a person who has been homeless in the past, I know how difficult it is to get out of homelessness. The prime minister said it is people with the skin in the game who know what’s best for their community. So, listen to us.”

Michael Chandler, chief executive at Groundswell said: “We at Groundswell know that solutions to society’s issues must be informed by the voices and personal experience of people who have lived them. The country is in the midst of a major homelessness crisis, and to address it, our new government needs to hear and act upon the voices and experiences of people affected by homelessness. 

“We are proud to work with Amnesty to launch this charter to inform our new government’s priorities. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the government to discuss our priorities and work on solutions to ending homelessness together.”

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