The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
Suella Braverman’s final week of political tailspinning began with her infamous warning that UK streets were being “taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.”
The key part of that sentence? “Many of them from abroad.” Since then, attacks on people experiencing homelessness have increased – over the weekend, a man in Birmingham suffered life-changing injuries after his bedding was set on fire, while rough sleepers’ tents in Camden were forced into dustbin lorries by refuse collectors.
It wasn’t an accidental choice of words by the home secretary. She was pre-dog whistling a surge in homelessness about to break on British streets.
On Tuesday, Liverpool council appealed to Michael Gove for funding after the city’s rough sleeper numbers rose by nearly 50 per cent, adding £19 million to the council’s budget.
The council cited a lack of housing and the additional pressure of a huge number of fast-tracked asylum decisions by the Home Office.
Having struggled to make electoral headway with its asylum policies, the government plans to clear the backlog of applications made before 28 June 2022 by the end of this year. At the end of August, that backlog was 55,477 cases or roughly 75,000 people.
In June, the Home Office changed the rules so that asylum seekers granted the right to remain have around seven days before being forced out of their accommodation – often without adequate paperwork. The British Red Cross has estimated that 50,000 people could be made homeless by Christmas as a result.
“It’s frankly inhumane to expect people who have just been granted refugee status to leave their asylum accommodation within seven days,” says Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis.
“In the vast majority of cases, it’s obvious to all of us that this can only lead to one outcome – homelessness and destitution. We’ve seen through our own services the unsustainable pressures this is placing on local authorities, who are already struggling to find affordable homes for the growing numbers of people facing homelessness.”
Birmingham’s bankrupt council is struggling to prepare for an estimated 1,000 former asylum seekers in the city. Glasgow anticipates an extra 1,400 asylum claims to be granted, placing a £50 million strain on its services.
Over 140 organisations – including the Refugee Council, NACCOM, Shelter and Crisis – highlighted the problem in an open letter to the Government at the start of September. Braverman’s response was to threaten to criminalise those organisations that gave homeless refugees tents. As the tents accumulate, remember who made the choices that put them there.