Shelter: Over 300 families in Yorkshire and the Humber homeless

346 families in the Yorkshire and the Humber region are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, according to charity Shelter.

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It is an 18% rise since the same time last year, according to analysis of government homelessness statistics by the charity.

Many families are therefore believed to be crammed into just one room of a hostel or bed and breakfast, forced to share a kitchen and bathroom with strangers and with virtually no privacy.

Shelter is warning that the combination of relentless welfare cuts and a drastic shortage of genuinely affordable homes is leaving more and more families struggling to keep a roof over their heads.

“We see the real families behind these figures”

Chief Executive of Shelter, Campbell Robb said: “These figures are yet another reminder of the impact welfare cuts and the drought of genuinely affordable homes is having on families and children in Yorkshire and the Humber.

“Every day at Shelter we see the real families behind these figures, who’ve gone through the trauma of losing their home and are then left to linger in cramped and unfit rooms, as overburdened councils struggle to find them anywhere to live that’s safe, secure and affordable.

“Last Wednesday’s Budget did nothing to address this country’s sky high housing costs, whilst slicing away at the help struggling families depend on to stay in their homes. If George Osborne really wants to bring down the benefit bill his first priority should be to invest in building safe, secure and genuinely affordable homes.”