As Britain freezes this December, hundreds of thousands of people in Britain will be sleeping in the streets or in temporary accommodation because they cannot afford to put a roof over their head.
Channel 4 News reported that while the central government does not keep statistics on the “working homeless” (people who have jobs but still living rough), the overall number is on the rise.
As many as 128,000 children in the UK are living in temporary accommodation and without a permanent home, according to the housing charity Shelter.
Struggling to settle in unfamiliar surroundings, some families have been recording video diaries about how they are forced to live.
In Birmingham, Britain’s second city, there’s a twin crisis: high levels of homelessness and drug use.
According to Channel 4 News, the city’s mayor aims to get people back into housing before tackling their drug problem, while outreach workers are trying to create safe areas where users can inject, which have already proved a huge success in Europe.
The urgent demand for more homes has been underlined by the latest government figures. The number of homeless households went up 6% between June and September this year.
