MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

English charity claims homelessness in rural areas has climbed 40% in past five years

CPRE argues that the problem is more severe in rural areas than many of England's towns and cities, including London, Leeds or Norwich.

British Countryside Charity, formerly Council for the Protection of Rural England, CPRE, claims that homelessness in rural England has increased 40% over the past five years, and illustrates with figures, 17,212 in 2018 o 24,143 this year.

CPRE argues that the problem is more severe in rural areas than many of England's towns and cities, including London, Leeds or Norwich.

Across the UK, every 15 people per 100,000 are estimated to be homeless. The charity said 12 local authorities, designated as predominantly rural, had levels of rough sleeping above the national average.

In Boston, Lincolnshire, there were 38 homeless per 100,000 people, compared to 23 per 100,000 in the London, says CPRE. People sleeping rough are defined as those sleeping in the open air, tents, makeshift shelters or buildings not meant for human habitation.

The charity found that the crisis is being fed by record house prices, stagnating wages, huge waiting lists for public housing and the rise of second homes and short-term lets, including Airbnb.

CPRE also underlines a severe lack of housing, saying it has exacerbated the country's cost of living crisis. UK inflation in 2022 was above 11%. The charity said 300,000 people are waiting for social housing in rural England — where the average house sells for around £420,000 (US$535,000).

Another housing charity, Shelter, estimated that levels of homelessness across England this Christmas are likely to be 14% higher than last year.

It calculated that on any given night there were close to 310,000 people in some form of homelessness, the majority in temporary accommodation.

CPRE called for the UK government to redefine the term “affordable housing” so it correlates to average local incomes, and to dramatically increase the available housing stock.

In February, the Centre for Cities think tank estimated that the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) was short of 4 million homes, with much of the shortage in England. Its researchers predicted it would likely take 50 years to resolve the housing crisis, based on the government's objective of building 300,000 new homes per year.