Why is it important to raise the issue of homelessnes?... Because it is an important contemporary issue.
'Rising homelessness shows the damage caused by welfare cuts
Homelessness has now risen by 34% since 2010, with measures including the benefit cap and the bedroom tax blamed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Crisis.'
'In 2013 the UK economy finally began to show signs of recovery, but as we have argued in previous Monitors, policy factors have a more direct bearing on levels of
homelessness than the recession in and of itself. Most key informants interviewed in
2013 expect a new surge in homelessness associated with the ramping up of welfare
reform, particularly the social sector bedroom limits and the introduction of Universal Credit. At the same time, housing market pressures seem unlikely to ease, particularly in London and the South. A range of specialist homelessness funding programmes intended to ameliorate the impact of these negative structural trends on particularly vulnerable groups are also due to end in 2014. It therefore seems that, as in 2010, we may soon be facing another critical juncture in homelessness trends in England.'
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics...d-welfare-cuts
http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/...xecSummary.pdf