Workers on frontline of homelessness crisis face surge in demand as they fear ending up on streets themselves

Britain is facing a “perfect storm” in homelessness, say experts, with a shock survey revealing a surge in demand for help at a time when it has become increasingly difficult to house those in need.

In an annual survey of 1,050 frontline UK staff by charity St Martin-in-the-Fields, 84 per cent of respondents said they had seen a growth in the number of people asking for help with homelessness over the 12 months to January.

And with Britain’s housing shortage showing no sign of abating, 92 per cent also warned they found it difficult or very difficult to find suitable housing for those in need, while more than three-quarters also struggled to secure mental health support.

Katie Dalton, director of Cymorth Cymru, which supports the homelessness sector in Wales, warned that a decades-long failure to build enough social housing had resulted in a “perfect storm” of growing demand, and soaring private rents pricing out those on low incomes or housing benefit.

And with the cost of food, rent and other essentials having soared since the pandemic, frontline staff are also under huge pressure themselves – with 80 per cent describing themselves at risk of burnout, the charity found.

More than half of those surveyed said they were struggling to pay their own bills and housing costs, to the extent that nearly one in four worry about becoming homeless themselves.

According to the latest official figures, the number of people who approached councils in England for help with homelessness and were deemed eligible for support hit a record high of 94,560 in the first three months of 2024, when the charity’s survey was carried out.

Warning that the situation has become “more challenging” since the survey, the charity’s chief executive Duncan Shrubsole said: “With the stark reality of an ever-increasing number of people experiencing homelessness, the role of frontline workers to prevent and resolve it is more important than ever.”

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Calling it unacceptable that staff are themselves at risk of homelessness, he warned of an anecdotal uptick in people leaving the sector, taking with them valuable experience in engaging entrenched rough sleepers and navigating the complex system to secure support in an increasingly challenging landscape.

“You need skill, experience, guts, negotiating skills, empathy. It’s quite a multi-faceted role and that doesn’t come overnight, and too often it’s being done on the cheap. We need to make sure that these vital services are being invested in,” Mr Shrubsole told The Independent.

Illustrating how increasingly difficult it can be to find housing for those who need it, Mr Shrubsole said some charities are finding they can no longer rely on councils, housing associations or sympathetic landlords – and are instead seeking to either buy or build their own housing stock.

“They’re getting increasingly desperate, because they realise that, unless they have accommodation themselves that they manage or can bring people to, then it isn’t there otherwise,” he said.

Warning that “the difficulty in helping people to access accommodation is really impacting staff morale”, Ms Dalton said: “They’re in this to make a difference to people’s lives, and the lack of affordable housing means they can’t give people that all-important thing, which is a safe place to call home.”

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Despite their “incredibly complex and challenging work”, many “get paid peanuts” and are “being pushed closer to the brink”, said Ms Dalton, adding that she knew of people “who have been pushed so close to poverty that they have had to leave the job they love behind” after 20 or 30 years in the sector.

Having secured a £13m funding increase last year after its research suggested 67 per cent of homelessness and housing support workers in Wales were paid below the real living wage of £12 an hour, Ms Dalton and Mr Shrubsole both called for sustained investment into the sector.

Sir Keir Starmer’s new government has pledged to overhaul the planning system and reintroduce mandatory housing targets in a bid to deliver 1.5 million more homes.

Warning that the sector is in the grips of “a decades-long problem that’s got worse over the last 10 years”, Mr Shrubsole said: “It’s not just ‘Are the plans far enough?’ Are they fast enough? Because the housing pressures are here and now. So we can’t just wait for a new house to be built in five years.”

He added: “On housing, you’ve got to do big stuff early. If they wait two or three years towards the end of parliament, it’s too late to turn things around and the problems will just have got worse. Every person prevented or helped out of homelessness, in the end saves the taxpayer money. and the earlier it’s done, the better.”

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We know homelessness is far too high and is having a devastating impact on those affected.

“That is why the deputy prime minister is taking action to tackle this through a dedicated inter-ministerial group which will develop a long-term strategy to end homelessness.

“This is alongside our delivery of the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, and banning Section 21 evictions to prevent homelessness before it occurs.”