Talking about homelessness this election

During this election period, local candidates will go door to door canvassing for votes. Here are some questions you could ask candidates. 

• What is your party’s plan to end all forms of homelessness? 
• Have you made a public pledge for a future free from homelessness?  
• What steps will you take in your first weeks in office to help prevent and end homelessness?   
• Is your party committed to building at least 90,000 more social homes per year that are needed to end homelessness?  
• Will you work with local homelessness services and charities like Crisis to raise awareness and build a future free from homelessness?

Homelessness is when you don’t have a safe or secure place to live. It includes those of us: 

• Forced to spend a night on the streets fearing for our lives 
• Families living in unsuitable temporary accommodation like cramped hostels and mouldy B&Bs  
• Being forced to sleep on friends’ sofas because you have nowhere else to go.  

Homelessness has risen to record levels. 

• The number of families and individuals stuck in temporary accommodation in England has reached over 112,000 – an increase of 12% in just one year.  
• Rough sleeping has risen by 27% since 2022.  
• Across England, more than 242,000 families and individuals are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness. 

It’s unacceptable. No one should be forced to live without the safety of a home

We know that homelessness isn’t inevitable. There are proven solutions to end it, such as:

1. Ending homelessness with homes: Ensuring everyone has a safe, secure and affordable home. The next government needs to build 90,000 social homes per year to help end homelessness.
2. Urgent action to support people experiencing, or at risk of, the worst forms of homelessness. This means investing in evidence-based housing and support models targeted at people at highest risk of rough sleeping.
3. Fixing the system for the long-term: Reforming the welfare, health and homelessness legal system so they work effectively to prevent homelessness in the future and react quickly when it does occur.

Read more about the solutions in our manifesto.

The language we use when talking about homelessness influences how people think about the issue.

These are our tips for having a conversation about homelessness. 

• We can explain that homelessness is more than rough sleeping. It includes people homeless in temporary accommodation, sleeping in cars and staying with friends and famili becuse they have nowhere else to go

• We can talk to people about how external pressures push people into homelessness – such as poverty, a lack of affordable housing and the rising cost of living.

• We can keep reminding people that homelessness can be ended!

• And when we do, we can be clear that ending homelessness is about providing the homes that people need and fixing the policies and systems that push people into homelessness. It’s not about fixing people.