16 December 2005
Ministers are being challenged to commit themselves to a major increase in social housing after new figures showed the number of families without permanent homes still exceeds 100,000.
As part of its response to the Barker review, the government said it would increase overall house building by one third before 2016.
But it did not state how many of the 200,000 homes to be built annually would be for people on low incomes.
The latest homelessness statistics, published on December 12, reveal that the number of households in temporary accommodation rose slightly from 100,970 to 101,020 in the three months to September.
It is more than a year since homelessness was below 100,000.
Adam Sampson, director of the housing charity Shelter, urged Chancellor Gordon Brown to honour his promise to make social rented housing a priority in next year's Comprehensive Spending Review.
'Ministers must ensure there are enough social rented homes for those that need them, and rebalance the current schism between demand and supply,' said Sampson.
Shelter wants an extra 60,000 social rented homes to be built between 2008 and 2011.
Kate Barker, who has said she would like a more rapid overall increase in house-building than that proposed by the Treasury, originally called for social housing to increase annually by between 17,000 and 23,000 homes.
Housing minister Yvette Cooper pointed out that the number of families joining the homelessness register is down by 7,350 compared with the same quarter in 2004 and is at its lowest level for 20 years.
Announcing a further £88m to help local authorities tackle homelessness over two years, Cooper added: 'Record investment and new programmes to prevent people becoming homeless are making a big difference.'
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