Worsening blight of homelessness (From Bournemouth Echo)

Worsening blight of homelessness

10:33am Monday 17th December 2012 in Opinion

TODAY the Echo highlights homelessness in our area with two stories on the issue.

The first centres on a couple who have unexpectedly fallen on hard times and ended up living in a car.

The second tells how a family – a disabled single mum with four children – face having to leave their Three Legged Cross home this week with nowhere to go.

The relevant authorities are addressing both cases and it seems as if accommodation of some sort will be found in time for Christmas.

But there are still many other cases out there and the numbers are growing.

Homeless charity Shelter recorded 271 households being placed in temporary accommodation across Dorset in the third quarter of this year. That’s up to September.

The organisation’s chief executive Campbell Robb says more than 2,000 children in the South West will wake up homeless on Christmas Day. More resources need to be aimed at tackling this problem before it gets any worse.