Big Issue (28th May 2020) - The COVID-19 cliff edge for homelessness

28th May 2020

There has been much focus recently on Westminster’s success in effectively ending mass rough sleeping.

As coronavirus gripped, more than 5,400 people were moved from the streets and into hotels, B&Bs and other emergency accommodation to protect them from the pandemic. It was a massive achievement and showed what was possible when political will and urgency combined. Now there are growing calls for the government to set out what comes next.

As a provider of temporary accommodation, Caridon Property has been working with local authorities across the south of England even more closely over the last few weeks to help house rough sleepers or those fleeing domestic violence. We have first-hand experience of the uphill battle our country is about to face when it comes to homelessness.

Our experiences of the housing market and our current efforts to house rough sleepers led to our CEO, Mario Carrozzo, warning of the “Covid cliff-edge” in this week’s copy of Big Issue magazine.

He stresses that emergency measures put in place to house homeless people in facilities which cannot currently accommodate their usual clientele is an eviction time-bomb. This, combined with several challenges faced by the private rented sector, could see homelessness surge to a scale not seen before.

Read Mario’s assessment of the challenges we face in ending homelessness, as well as contributions from The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee chair Clive Betts, The Institute for Fiscal Studies, Homeless Link chief executive Rick Henderson, former rough sleeper Kris Dove, and more.

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