Dozens of people homeless in Bassetlaw on any given night

Shelter, a leading homelessness charity, estimates 67 people were homeless in Bassetlaw on any given night in 2022, including 16 children, equivalent to one in every 1,751 people in the area.

Around 48 homeless people were in temporary accommodation, while 17 were estimated to be sleeping rough. A further two were said to be "homeless at home".

The estimates suggest about 2,400 people were sleeping rough across England, with a further 15,000 people in hostels or supported accommodation.

Nearly 250,000 people, mainly families, were living in temporary accommodation.

Despite a slight drop in the figure from the previous year – 274,000, the use of temporary accommodation has risen by an “alarming” 74 per cent over the last decade, Shelter said. The charity said this was due to a “chronic shortage” of social homes.

Coun Steve Scotthorne, Cabinet Member for Housing at Bassetlaw Council stated Shelter’s figures are “a concern”, and confirmed that the council opened 143 new applications for homelessness in the district last year – with temporary accommodation being found for 118 of the cases.

However, he commented that there are many factors that contribute to homelessness, “not simply a lack of social housing”.

Coun Scotthorne said: “Factors include landlord evictions in the private sector, financial problems and the cost of living crisis, mental health issues, drug and alcohol addiction, family breakdown, lifestyle choices and in some cases an inability to sustain a tenancy.

“As a local authority, we are doing everything we can to get people off the streets and into a home of their own. Just some of the ways we are doing this is by increasing our own provision of temporary accommodation, and using government funds to buy additional properties which, when combined with support from our tenancy sustainment officers, acts as a gateway to a person or family finding a long-term home.

“We are developing even more council-owned homes and over the next two years will build 90 new homes in Manton. We also work with other Registered Housing Providers to find homes for people on our waiting lists, and last year secured 109 new housing association tenancies.

“Through the work of our Housing Officers and Tenancy Sustainment Officers, we actively prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. But the Government also needs to do more to address this issue.

“The Local Government Association has said that to improve housing security, the Government needs to address the unaffordability of housing by giving councils the right powers and investment to build 100,000 new social rent homes a year.

“The Right to Buy scheme, which has eroded our housing stock over the last 42 years, needs to be reformed and we urgently need a review on local housing allowance rates to ensure that at least a third of the market is affordable for people claiming housing related benefits.”

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said they were expecting a rise in homelessness in 2023.

“A cold doorway or a grotty hostel room is not a home, but this is reality for too many people today,” she said.

“With private rents and living costs continuing to soar, thousands of people are not just facing a winter of worry, they are at risk of losing the roof over their head.”

A Government spokeswoman said it had given £366 million to local authorities this year to help prevent evictions and provide temporary housing.