What is causing England's rural homelessness crisis?

yeah so we've turned left there come down it says when you're almost at the railway Club it's 5 30 in the morning and the temperature is barely above freezing we're out with the rural homeless team in woods half an hour north of Norwich walk down a little bit of over have a list of sightings it's a list that's getting longer could be here so we'll just have a look around this with this area as Dawn breaks hidden behind a crumbling old signal box we find Connolly hello Connolly it's Becky from the rough sleeper team he's 24 and has been sleeping out here for the last three weeks quite a bad fight and um it caused me to lose where I was living but not only that I lost my job I used to be a housekeeper but no I'm after that night I've sort of lost everything managed to find this ten for five we used the last bit of money I had you obviously get really cold Conley yeah it is getting really cold now but you know there's such a risk you know especially as for people and just call it get hypothermia and that that's quite scary I've definitely hit my lowest point [Music] how much of a priority then for you now is ensuring that tonight he's somewhere warm that is my priority today that is my goal to make sure I get back to the office find him somewhere today and get him into accommodation tonight now he's been rough sleeping in a tent you are picking up a young man called Connolly as soon as you can please [Music] Conley's situation is not unique the number of people homeless in rural England is rising there are a multitude of reasons less funding a lack of social housing lower wages and high numbers of second homes are just a few of them to be honest in rural communities house prices rents and so on are completely out of whack with local wages which makes it really hard to live in the countryside unless you're on a very good salary it's actually the case that the demand for social housing is increasing six times faster than the supply new key on the North Coast of Cornwall just meters from the beach is the Sandy Lodge hotel it's 50 plus rooms are full but there are no tourists inside are the hidden homeless this hotel is completely full of people who are on the waiting list for housing here in Cornwall many of them were working full-time they were paying private rents and one decision by their landlord has completely changed their lives hey Kim how you doing hi Dan nice to meet you how you doing who's this this is Charlie how old's Charlie he's 10 months old among them is Kim she her partner and three kids have been living in this hotel for four months so this is your room yeah this is where we live so there's the five of you in yes my landlords decided to sell the house so we were made homeless really and that's as simple as it gets so you've gone from a three-bedroom house to one room one room yeah how do you feel sort of having privately rented technically being homeless now it hurts it hurts a lot I mean like I said we were told it was our forever home we were there two and a half years and then we were given two months to leave and it's like you know there's so many second homes there's so many airbnbs there's so many places that could be used to house local people especially but there are a lot of people I think that come down from up country with the idea that cornwall's the best place ever and it's really not like it's beautiful but is not under the surface living in one room for months on end with no end in sight is taking its toll all we want is a home that's it my kids my four-year-old cried on Christmas Day because all she wanted from Santa was at home and you know it broke my heart because I can't give her that at the minute I don't have the means I don't have the money to be able to do that and I'd give I'd give anything to be able to get home for my children funding to help people like Kim is a big problem researchers from the universities of Kent and Southampton have recently found that government money for local authorities to tackle homelessness is 65 percent less per person in rural areas compared to Urban and while the overall number of homeless in the countryside is lower than in cities that number is rising sharply exclusive analysis for Sky News by cpre the countryside charity has found that the number of people homeless in rural England has risen by more than 21 percent since 2018. there were more than 17 000 people classed as homeless in rural areas in 2018 to 19 but last year that number jumped to nearly twenty one thousand rural parts of the East and the south west of England have the highest numbers the situation is so bad here the Cornwall council is spending 40 000 pounds every single day putting people in emergency accommodation and he'll put it bluntly at the moment we just haven't got enough housing available for local people to buy or rent you know there's a shortage of housing full stop one temporary solution is to build dedicated pods so behind you right now a 15 solar house units each one accommodates one person and they provide a stepping stone for people who have through no Faults of their own have found themselves in in need of a house the council wants up to 500 of them placed in pockets of land where people need the most it's Cornwall council's number one priority is to address the housing crisis what we've seen is over the last number of decades a a a slowly building crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic which was acted as a catalyst to really highlight the amount of housing inequality across Cornwall building more social homes is the council's long-term plan but that will take years right now Millions is going on temporary solutions it's a huge amount of money but it has provided provided a necessary service however temporary accommodation isn't good enough I think we need more social housing and more um sort of sufficient longer term solutions to the problems that we face the government says building more affordable homes is key to solving rural homelessness but that simply isn't happening anywhere near the level that it needs to be so at the minute you've got a lot of sticking plaster Solutions but we have heard of one place back in Norfolk that's doing more to help the homeless than just putting a roof over their heads in a place called ditchingham there's a massive old Convent in 2011 a group of nuns gifted it to the homeless it's run by the charity Emmaus companions as they're known are given bed and bored but they also work a 40-hour week paid in cafes and shops that they set up firstly people are supporting themselves so they're not getting a handout so we are supporting people to gain self-worth and maintain that and build skills and build their self-esteem to a point that they feel able to move on potentially Chloe's 22 and was living in her car before coming here she says having a home and a fresh purpose has saved her life they've got me through so much mentally through my addictions absolutely everything family stuff every aspect they've got me through more than what anywhere else has to be honest so they have they've saved my life in in one way so because I could if I didn't have here I'd be back in my car on the streets and I'd probably relapse and be drinking and using again in some of our most rural areas becoming homeless is an ever-growing risk the government says it's giving councils 366 million pounds to help house those in need and has built more than 243 000 affordable homes since 2010 but campaigners say it's not enough first and foremost we need to see a massive social house building program which we haven't seen in this country for years and we want a significant proportion of that for Rural communities where the problem is particularly acute that's the only way to solve this in the longer term it's something that we've really under invested in in this country and that's what we want to see change as soon as possible in Norwich there's been a change of luck for Connolly okay come food just eight hours after we found him in a tent he's been given somewhere to sleep for at least eight weeks they definitely moved quickly I was actually a surprised on how quick they managed to get me into a room um food parcel um you've got fridge in the microwave there's some toiletries I'm just so relieved I'm really grateful you know for what they've done you know helped me uh come here because I'm definitely gonna sleep well and it'll take a few days to adjust but it's definitely better than being outside for Connolly it is a chance to rebuild but not everyone facing homelessness gets this opportunity in what is a growing crisis in rural England

Channel: Sky News

Views: 1,107,809

Keywords: homeless, homeless people, homeless man, homeless charity, homeless in london, help the homeless, homeless shelter, homeless documentary, invisible people homeless, hidden and homeless, homeless uk, homeless london, london homeless, homeless crisis, sky news, dan whitehead, rural homelessness, rural, homelessness

Id: SSodakiJ_Kw

Length: 10min 48sec (648 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2023