The chief executive of campaigning charity Shelter is blaming “skyrocketing rents” for a crisis of homelessness.

As part of an appeal for money to be sent to the charity this Christmas, Polly Neate says:  “Homelessness is on nobody’s Christmas list, but 309,000 people will spend this time of year in a tiny hostel room or freezing in a doorway. 

“The housing emergency is out of control. Chronic underinvestment in social homes has left people unable to afford skyrocketing private rents and plunged record numbers into homelessness. 

“It is appalling that the government has allowed thousands of families to be packed into damp and dirty B&B’s and hostel rooms, which are traumatising children and making people desperately ill.  

“Until the government takes this emergency seriously, our frontline services will do everything they can to help people keep or find a safe home this winter.“

Neate claims Shelter provides “vital advice and support” and “fights for the solutions people want and need to end homelessness.”

She also claims that 309,000 people in England will spend Christmas without a home, including almost 140,000 children.

This adds up to one person in every 182 in England and she claims that over 3,000 people are sleeping rough on any given night and 279,400 are living in temporary accommodation. There are also 20,000 people in hostels or supported accommodation. 

Neate says the government’s own figures reveal that 47 per cent of families who are homeless in temporary accommodation have been there for more than two years.

Shelter also says it has identified places across England “where homelessness is most acute” with London the worst, with one in 51 people homeless. Outside of London, Luton is the local authority with the highest rates of homelessness with one in 64 people homeless, followed by Birmingham and Manchester where one in 71 are homeless and Hastings where one in 79 are homeless.