Austerity has worsened both the causes and effects of homelessness

Analysis: As the government vows to crack down on the supply of drugs, charities warn that addiction can be a consequence rather than a cause of homelessness, Lizzie Dearden writes

Campaigners say services for single homeless people have dropped by £1bn per year (EPA-EFE)

Shocking statistics showing that two homeless people died every day in England and Wales last year have sparked renewed calls for action to prevent such deaths.

But while the government has emphasised its introduction of a new law and national strategy to combat rough sleeping, grassroots organisations say current efforts come “nowhere near” replacing the funding lost over years of austerity.

The Office for National Statistics counted 726 homeless deaths in 2018 but said the number may be even higher. The figure is a 22 per cent rise on 2017, while deaths related to drug poisoning rocketed by 55 per cent in the year.

A government statement pointed to its ongoing drugs review, which covers all kinds of substance misuse.

But charities say that as well as being a causal factor of homelessness, drug taking is frequently a result of rough sleeping – and combating supply will not significantly reduce the number of people on the streets.

Intervention providers said homelessness worsens mental and physical health, making people who were not previously addicts vulnerable.

Dominic Williamson, the executive director of policy at St Mungo’s, said that funding cuts had also reduced places on drug, alcohol and mental health treatment programmes.

“If people are living on the streets, you’ll have people taking drugs and dying on the streets,” he told The Independent.

“The number of people actually on the streets has gone up 165 per cent over the last decade.”

Mr Williamson said that while increased funding is tackling rough sleeping in some of the worst-hit areas, there is a “constant flow of people onto the streets”.

He explained that even when people are put in emergency accommodation, where there is a backlog, it is getting harder to find them a long-term home either in the private sector or social housing.

A government assessment of the causes of rough sleeping published in March named the ending of private tenancies as the largest single reason given for statutory homelessness, amid a national shortage of social housing.

“Structural factors are wider societal and economic issues that affect opportunities and social environments for individuals,” the report said. “This includes unfavourable housing and labour market conditions, reduced welfare and benefits, rising levels of poverty and the growing fragmentation of the family.”

Other factors include domestic abuse, mental health or addiction – all areas where support services have been hit by government funding cuts.

The government’s own analysis said the introduction of the Conservatives’ flagship universal credit, including delayed payments and the removal of automatic entitlement to housing costs for 18- to 21-year-olds, “adversely affected young people’s access to housing”.

The report said that while personal circumstances such as relationship breakdown are often cited as a cause of homelessness, they can also be driven by economic factors such as unemployment and poverty.

A duty to prevent and relieve homelessness was handed to local authorities with a law that came into force in April 2018, but campaigners said the government had not backed up its intentions with sufficient funding.

The Local Government Association called for “a long-term sustainable funding solution.”

Housing spokesperson David Renard said: “We need the government to adequately fund public health services so that councils can invest in drug and alcohol treatment services to make sure people get the support they need.”