Crisis calls for census on "Hidden Homeless"

Tuesday, 13 July 2004 12:00 AM

Homeless charity Crisis has called on the Government to carry out a census to ascertain the extent of hidden homelessness in Britain.

Crisis estimates that there are around 380,000 "Hidden Homeless" people in Britain today, approximately the same number as the population of Manchester. This they predict is set to grow to one million by 2020.

The charity defines "Hidden Homeless" as the "problem of single homeless people who exist out of sight in hostels, bed and breakfast accommodation, squats or with friends and family."

It describes as "scandalous" the fact that there is no official count of these people.

Crisis is calling on the Government to carry out a full census to establish exactly how many people there are in this situation, who they are and what their needs are.

It estimates that one in three have a mental health problem, and one in four suffer from drug addiction.

Crisis chief executive, Shaks Ghosh, said: "Hidden Homelessness is a problem that can be solved. But we need to understand the true scale of the problem so it can be tackled with the right solutions."

The report also estimates that the problem is costing Britain £1.4 billion a year. This is calculated through estimates of how much local authorities pay for temporary accommodation, costs to the health and police services, how much the state pays out in benefits and loses in taxes from these individuals not being able to work.

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