Tue 17 Jun 2008
Number of people in temporary accommodation fall
The volume of households in temporary accommodation fell by 11% in comparison to the same period last year, according to fresh local authority figures.Homelessness Minister Iain Wright (pictured) praised the achievements of local authorities, following the news that the volume of people in temporary accommodation fell from 87,120 in Q1 2007 to 77,510 in Q1 2008.
The figures show that the South East, North East and the East Midlands have now all achieved the government's 2010 target of 50% reduction in the numbers of households living in temporary accommodation from the baseline set in 2004.
Wright said: “2003 was the first year that local authorities were required to have a homelessness strategy in place and we have seen an almost continuous decrease in numbers ever since. Those who have reached the target two years early should be rightly proud of their efforts, but we know we have more to do to assist families into settled homes – the challenge now is for others to meet this early success. "
However, Wright stressed that there was still more to do to help additional families into settled homes.
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