Britain’s homeless question whether to vote in the general election when political promises always fall short
Trevor is too scared to sleep in a tent at night like the other rough sleepers.
He sleeps on a park bench or in a doorway. It’s safer.
“Some people come along and set your tent on fire,” he tells me.
He says no one ever zips up their sleeping bags or tent doors in case they need to escape quickly.
This shocking story of the dangers faced by being homeless on the streets of London doesn’t seem to shock Trevor. It’s just part of life, he says.
“There’s no point reporting it to the police, they won’t do anything.”
At 53 years old, Trevor has been homeless for the best part of a decade.
Trevor often sleeps on a park bench or in a doorway
In and out of temporary accommodation, night shelters and hostels. He says he’s tired.
But he’s also fed up with what he says is a long line of broken political promises that have failed to tackle Britain’s worsening housing crisis.
“Every government has always said that they are going to solve this problem. But none of them have,” he says.
Trevor is right. Because the latest figures are stark and reveal a worsening situation.
In the run-up to the election, all of the political parties are promising to tackle the issue.
A ‘source of national shame’
The annual rough sleeping snapshot provides the government’s estimate for how many people were rough sleeping on a given night in autumn 2023.
It shows that 3,898 people were sleeping rough across England, an increase of 27% on the previous year.
And the number of people sleeping rough is now 61% higher than it was 10 years ago.
The Conservatives defend their record despite not having met their 2019 manifesto promise to build 300,000 new homes a year.
Broken political promises that have failed to tackle Britain’s worsening housing crisis
While Labour says they want to build 1.5 million new homes in their first five years in power.
But crucially, there is no target for the number of affordable or social homes Labour would build.
And that is central to easing the housing crisis, according to Matt Downie, chief executive of the homeless charity Crisis.
“The scale of rough sleeping is now a source of national shame. It is a sign of extreme inequality and must prompt a rethink at the highest levels of government,” he says.
Trevor has been homeless for the best part of a decade
“It cannot be overstated how dehumanising sleeping on the streets is. Through our frontline services we hear directly from people who have been spat at, urinated on or attacked simply because they do not have the security of a safe home. Things have got to change.
“To bring these numbers down, we urgently need Westminster to put long-term funding into the proven solutions. We need to see a commitment to build the levels of social housing we need every year.”
For Trevor, who is desperate to find a place to call home, the sums do not add up.
In his area of Brent, northwest London, rooms rent for upwards of £1,000 a month. He has come to a Crisis drop-in centre to get help.
But they are busier than ever, explains operations manager Nick Bradshaw.
Nick Bradshaw says Crisis has seen a 40 to 50% increase in some of the people approaching them for support
“Over the last six months, we’ve seen a 40 to 50% increase in some of the people approaching us for support. Which is huge,” Mr Bradshaw says.
“We’re seeing a lot more older adults in their 60s, 70s and 80s who have been in insecure accommodation, who are not able to stay there any more or have been sofa surfing.”
A rise in older homeless people
This rise in older people needing help is worrying charities like Crisis.
Older people can be more vulnerable, struggle with their health and can be harder to house because they might have less financial stability.
Homelessness among those aged 65 onwards has jumped by 13% in the last year. Now almost 14,000 people are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, according to the charity Independent Age.
Cleon Riley, 67, has been homeless since his partner died
At the drop in centre, I meet 67-year-old Cleon Riley, who has lived in this area all his life.
He tells me his partner died last month and the landlord wanted him out of the flat they shared.
“The landlord changed the locks and I was out on the street,” he says.
He tells me that one landlord wanted £1,000 for a room. He cannot afford that. So he has been sleeping in a night shelter and wandering the streets during the day.
This centre is full of people who have been let down by the housing system. Most here tell me they feel forgotten about.
But there is one thing they can do to make their voices heard.
‘I don’t have faith in politics’
In the kitchen area, the homeless men are being urged to sign up to vote in this election.
Trevor is looking over the forms he needs to fill out in order to vote on 4 July.
Trevor hasn’t voted since Brexit
He says he has always tried to vote. Brexit was the last time he went to a polling station.
“I don’t have much faith in politics or the government. I don’t think they’ve given me much inspiration recently,” he says.
And it is perhaps understandable that Trevor feels this way.
Read more:
Plans to ‘criminalise’ homelessness scrapped
Families homeless despite empty houses
Almost one million renters given no-fault evictions
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The COVID pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis has not just hit the homeless hard. Britons have seen the biggest drop in living standards in a generation and public services are stretched.
I ask Trevor if he will vote. He’s not sure.
“Who am I voting for? Voting for change? What change? I’m 53 years of age. Nothing will change for us after this election. It’s like we’ve been forgotten.”
UK
Resident doctor strikes: I don’t want people to suffer but we have to walk out again, says BMA chief
The British Medical Association (BMA) has defended a new round of resident doctor walkouts starting on Friday, insisting medics’ pay is still “way down” compared with 2008 and that the government has failed to finish “a journey” towards restoring it.
BMA chair Dr Tom Dolphin told Sky News the dispute remains rooted in years of pay erosion that have left resident doctors far behind other public sector workers.
“When we started the dispute, […] the lowest level of the resident doctors were being paid £14 an hour,” he said.
“There were some pay rises over the last couple of years that brought that partly back to the value it should be at, but not all the way.
“The secretary of state (Wes Streeting) himself called it a journey, implying there were further steps to come, but we haven’t seen that.”
Resident doctors outside Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary during a five-day strike in July. File pic: PA
When asked if the row ultimately “comes down to money”, he replied: “In the sense that the secretary of state doesn’t want to or isn’t able to fund the pay increases to match the value that we had in 2008.”
Dr Dolphin argued that while “the general worker in the economy as a whole” has seen pay catch up since the 2008 financial crash, “doctors are still way down”.
The government points out that its 29% settlement last year was one of the largest in the public sector and was intended to draw a line under two years of walkouts.
But Dr Dolphin said the deal still fell short: “The gap was biggest for doctors and needed the biggest amount of restoration, and that’s what we got.”
He defended the BMA’s use of the Retail Price Index (RPI), a metric rejected by the Office for National Statistics, saying it “better reflects the costs people face”.
Should resident doctors get a pay rise? Have your say in the poll at the bottom of this story.
Dr Tom Dolphin says resident doctors are still underpaid
‘Who do you think is treating the patients?’
With Chancellor Rachel Reeves preparing her budget amid warnings of deep cuts, Dr Dolphin said the BMA is not demanding an immediate cash injection.
“We’re quite happy for that money to be deferred with some kind of multi-year pay deal so that we can end the dispute and avoid having further industrial action about pay for several years to come,” he said.
“Money spent in the NHS is returned to the economy. For every pound you spend, you get several pounds back.”
When pressed on whether the £1.7bn cost of previous strike action could have been better spent on treatment and technology for NHS cancer patients, he hit back: “Who do you think is treating the cancer patients? It’s the doctors.”
Read more on Sky News:
Thousands of NHS redundancies
Sentence and fine over patient death
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has criticised the BMA for striking again. File pic: PA
Strikes will cause disruption, union boss admits
Dr Dolphin rejected suggestions that the dispute could destabilise the government, calling the idea “implausible”.
He admitted prolonged strikes have tested public patience, but said the government had left doctors with no choice.
“A prolonged industrial dispute makes people annoyed with both sides,” he said. “It is vexing to us that we are still in this dispute.”
“I don’t want patients to suffer,” he added. “I accept that the strikes cause disruption… of course that’s upsetting for them. I completely get that. And I’m sorry that it’s happening.”
Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to his health secretary after allies of the prime minister accused him of plotting a coup.
Sky News understands Sir Keir spoke briefly to Wes Streeting on Wednesday evening, though did not share details about the briefing campaign.
Politics Hub: Follow latest updates
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions earlier in the day, he denied authorising the attacks on Mr Streeting, who was accused of planning a leadership challenge after the budget later this month.
Mr Streeting said the allegations are “not true”, telling Sky News’ Mornings With Ridge And Frost that whoever was behind the briefings had been “watching too much Celebrity Traitors”.
He insisted he was loyal to the prime minister, who has been under mounting pressure as he and the Labour Party flounder behind Reform in the polls.
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Health secretary insists he’s ‘a faithful’
Downing Street went on the attack on Tuesday night to ward off any potential challenge to Sir Keir after the budget, which could see the government announce manifesto-breaking tax rises.
Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves have refused to rule out raising income tax, national insurance, or VAT.
One senior figure told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby while a post-budget challenge is unlikely, it could come if next May’s elections – including in London and Wales – go badly for Labour.
Labour face a challenge from Reform on the right and parties like the Greens and Plaid Cymru on the left.
Read more: How No 10 plunged itself into crisis
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Starmer backs Streeting at PMQs
Also under pressure is the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, after Mr Streeting hit out at a “toxic culture” inside Number 10.
Sir Keir failed to say he had “full confidence” in him at PMQs in response to questions from Kemi Badenoch, but the prime minister’s political spokesperson later insisted to journalists that he does retain his backing.
Sky News understands Mr McSweeney was not discussed when Sir Keir and Mr Streeting spoke last night.
Labour chairwoman Anna Turley said the prime minister will investigate the source of the claims against the health secretary, telling ITV: “This is not what he wants to see and he’s determined to drive it out.”
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