Homelessness: Thousands sleeping rough in cars, Crisis says

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Homelessness in the UK is at a record high with 170,000 families and individuals experiencing destitution, the charity Crisis has said. For every one person sleeping rough on the street, there is another living in a car or a tent, figures suggest. Publishing the new research on Sunday, Crisis insisted the underlying causes of homelessness could only be tackled by changes in government policy. The government said it is investing £1.2bn to alleviate the problem. The new research on homelessness, carried out for Crisis by researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, suggested: Homelessness increased every year between 2012 and 2017 38,000 under-25s and 4,200 over-65s are estimated to be homeless 170,800 households are experiencing the most extreme forms of homelessness, compared to 151,600 in 2012. This includes people who are sofa-surfing, living in hostels and rough sleeping 12,300 people are sleeping rough and a similar number of people (12,000) are living in cars, tents or public transport - double the amount compared to 2012 Crisis released the statistics as it prepares to open up its Christmas centres for homeless people.

Singer Ellie Goulding, who has supported the charity for several years, visited one of its centres in London on Sunday. She told BBC News: "People can come here for the day, get in the warm, have a tea, have a shower if they need to and it's just a really nice atmosphere and safe environment." She said Crisis and other charities did brilliant work but said more affordable housing was needed to tackle homelessness in the long-term.