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Rough sleeping warning

england.shelter.org.uk

17 February 2011

Rough sleeping figures paint a worrying picture of the future of homelessness in this country, Shelter warned today.

In response to today’s data estimating that 1,768 people are forced to sleep on the street each night, Shelter's Chief Executive Campbell Robb said:

‘While we are pleased to see the Government’s announcement on funding to tackle rough sleeping, these figures come at the very time that government policies set out in the Localism Bill will weaken the rights of homeless people further.

‘Proposals in the Bill that will allow councils to push the homeless into an insecure private rented sector will remove the fundamental pillar of the homelessness safety net, denying people the security they need to rebuild their lives.

‘This could see households trapped in a constant cycle of insecurity and homelessness, with devastating impacts on children and families.

‘We urge the Government to seriously rethink these reforms, or risk seeing these figures increase further on their watch.’