Stoke-on-Trent among the highest for people sleeping rough each night

There are calls for urgent action to stop any more people ending up on the streets across Staffordshire and Cheshire.

Rough sleeping in England has risen by a fifth in a year, according to new snapshot estimates branded "devastating and shameful".

The latest figures came as separate data showed a record high for both households and children in temporary accommodation - a form of homelessness.

There were an estimated 4,667 people sleeping on the streets on a single night in autumn last year, according to annual Government statistics.

This was an increase of 769 people - or 20% - on the previous year's snapshot estimate of 3,898.

Across Staffordshire and Cheshire, Stoke-on-Trent came out highest with 35 on the streets on a single night. Cheshire was second with 22, and Stafford third with 13.

Trevor Bailey is from Connect to Combat Homelessness and runs an outreach team and rough sleeper support across Stoke-on-Trent, as well as the night shelter in Newcastle.

"There are more people sleeping rough than there have been in recent years." he told us.

"As far as jobs are concerned and industry is concerned around Stoke-on-Trent we don't actually have our own industry anymore, like we had the pottery industry. And the cost of running a household is considerably more than it used to be.

A new task force and extra funding could help

Trevor said: "I have to keep looking for funds just to keep us going. We're not an expensive charity, but the van costs money to run, and we run the night shelter. I'd love to have two or three more vans but it's getting the funding and the money to do that.

"We absolutely need a coalition or a task force, with not just the people at the top, with the people that work not just myself, but the actual workers from the drug and alcohol services, the charities that go out on the streets and speak to people. If all this information was fed back of why they're there, there must be a way we can slow this down."

Earlier this week the Government announced it was doubling emergency homelessness funding for councils in England to £60 million, but the national membership body for frontline homelessness charities urged a "wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding".

Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: "It is beyond devastating and shameful that our society has allowed thousands upon thousands of people to face the trauma of sleeping rough across this country."

The organisation blamed "a welfare system unfit for purpose, an acute shortage of truly affordable housing, extremely over-stretched homelessness, health and social care services and a disconnect between government policies - from hospitals and prisons discharging people onto the streets to people leaving the asylum system with nowhere to live".

Mr Henderson added: "Homeless Link is calling for a wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding that can enable support to be turned on its head.

"We desperately need a more efficient and effective funding approach that can drive a system rooted in preventing people's homelessness and provide support to make sure that everyone has a home and the help they need to keep it."

Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord John Bird said the latest rise is "simply unacceptable" and described rough sleeping as "our nation's biggest source of shame".

He said while higher spend on emergency funding is welcome "it must not be mistaken for a solution to this crisis", adding that "clever thinking, long-term investment, and collaboration on a huge scale" are needed.

Separate figures published on Thursday showed the number of children in temporary accommodation hit a record high of 164,040 as of the end of September.

The number has risen 15% in a year and is the highest since records for this measure began in 2004.

The number of households in temporary accommodation was also at a record high of 126,040, having increased 16% in a year.

There were 5,400 households with children living in bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) by the end of September last year - a rise of 15% in a year.

Some 3,470 households with children had been in B&Bs for more than the six-week limit.

By law, B&Bs are meant to be used only for families in an emergency, and for no longer than six weeks.

On Tuesday an extra £30 million in emergency funding was announced for councils in England to help keep people at risk of eviction in their homes and support rough sleepers off the streets.

The money was allocated after Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said remaining funds in her department should be directed towards tackling homelessness, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.

The announcement amounted to a doubling of a previously-announced £30 million for winter pressures funding for homelessness.

Asked about the record high number of children in temporary accommodation, a Downing Street spokesman said: "It is totally unacceptable that so many children are waking up in temporary accommodation.

"We've addressed this before, a minister previously has described it as inheriting a homelessness crisis, and it's absolutely crucial that we do tackle it, and that's what our Plan for Change is all about."

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