A walk through Manchester city centre goes far enough to show the plight of the scores of people without warmth, shelter, or food. How does each party intend to manage the issue?
Greater Together Manchester reported that, in 2017/18, there were 5,564 homeless in Greater Manchester, with 1,804 of those in Manchester itself.
homeless.org reported that from 2014 to 2018, the number of rough sleepers grew to 123 people.
Over the last five years, Manchester city council has spent £63 million on the building and maintenance affordable housing, while it’s refurbishment of the town hall, a six-year project from 2018-2024, is predicted to cost £326.4 million.
In a bid to combat the crisis of homelessness in the United Kingdom, the Labour party promised to build new homes at a rate of 150,000 by the end of Parliament. Furthermore, Labour promises to end rough sleeping within five years and use the levy on holiday homes to do so.
Labour has also stated it will earmark £1 billion a year for councils to spend towards homelessness services.
The Conservatives intend to eradicate rough sleeping by the end of Parliament by advancing initiatives such as Housing First, and by implementing a stamp duty surcharge on non-UK resident buyers.
It is vague about the creation of new homes, promising to continue its “progress towards our target of 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.”
However, it does promise to protect both tenants from no-fault evictions and the possession rights of “good landlords.”
The Liberal Democrats have similar pledged to build total homebuilding extends to 300,000 per year, with 100,000 of those for social rent. All homes will be built to zero carbon standards.
In addition, they intend to enable councils to raise council tax by up to 500% and implement a stamp duty surcharge on overseas homes similar to the Conservatives.
The Lib Dems promise to scrap the Vagrancy Act to decriminalise rough sleeping, to provide emergency accommodation, and to exclude the homeless from the Shared Accommodation Rate, which is the maximum a person can get in benefits when renting a room in a shared house.
The Green Party vows to create 100,000 new council homes every year, which will use 90% less energy for space heating than other homes and are all served by environmentally friendly transport routes. Recipients of Housing Benefit will continue to receive it.
They will also repeal the Vagrancy Act, but otherwise mentions little about a direct plan to assist rough sleepers and combat the crisis.
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