The number of homeless families living in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation is at its highest in nearly ten years, says the housing and homelessness charity Shelter. The charity says 2,090 homeless families across England have been placed in B&Bs after losing their homes, an eight per cent rise on the same period last year, and the highest since September 2003. Overall homeless figures also rose by more than five per cent in the last year. This includes 8,790 families with children – the equivalent of one family losing their home every 15 minutes. A Shelter poll found that six in every ten working families paying mortgage or rent are struggling with their payments. Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: ‘These figures are a wake-up call. Ordinary families are falling through the net and risk losing everything.’ The charity reports that it sees many families placed in unsuitable B&B-style accommodation, often for weeks at a time.
Pray: that accommodation may be found for homeless families that will bring stability. (Ps.113:9)