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Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran and Chair of the All-Party Group on Coronavirus warned that Ministers must act now to “stop a devastating surge in homelessness sweeping across the country as we face a potential second wave.”
According to official statistics, 58 households in Cheltenham are assessed as being threatened with homelessness, with another 102 assessed as homeless from January to March 2020.
30 households who were homeless or threatened with homelessness cited the end of a private rented tenancy as the reason for losing their last settled home.
The figures also revealed that 7 households in Cheltenham were rough sleeping in January to March 2020.
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson Max Wilkinson for Cheltenham said:
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said:
“Thousands of families in the private rented sector were already being threatened with homelessness earlier this year, now they face losing their homes in the middle of a pandemic.
“Ministers must act now to stop a devastating surge in homelessness sweeping across the country as we face a potential second wave.
“The sharp rise in rough sleeping also shows why criminalising rough sleeping through the Vagrancy Act must end. Instead, Ministers should protect emergency funding for local councils to permanently accommodate rough sleepers."