Manchester ranks worst for child homelessness

  outside of London

One in 47 children in Manchester is in need of temporary accommodation, according to new figures released by Shelter.

An astonishing 2,725 children in Manchester were in need of temporary accommodation in 2019, ranking the city highest outside of London for child homelessness.

The number of children in temporary accommodation across the North West was up an astonishing 385% – the highest anywhere in the UK.

An estimated 6,523 children were made homeless in the North West last year, meaning 18 children became homeless every single day, or one child being made homeless every 18 minutes.

The Liberal Democrats have warned that both national and local government are condemning a generation of children to the streets.

Labour's Homeless Tax and Hardship Sanction

Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Manchester John Leech said:

“While Westminster is obsessed with pushing through a damaging Brexit, problems in Manchester are accelerating at a UK-high rate, and children in Manchester are paying the price.

"But it is the Tories’ complete lack of interest in tackling the national homeless crisis which is aptly coupled with Labour’s appalling Homeless Tax and Hardship Sanction which hit those already struggling even harder.

“This doesn't just highlight the gross incompetence and lack of priorities from local and national government, nor is it just a complete embarrassment, but it exposes the devastating, critical and consistent failure of a system that simply doesn’t care.

"The Lib Dems have a clear plan to end this crisis. Lib Dems will end wasteful spending, invest more money than ever before into preventing homelessness, tackling the cause, guarantee at least 100,000 social homes every year, scrap the Homeless Tax and finally put an end to the greatest injustice of our lifetime.

"Only the Lib Dems will stop Brexit and build a brighter future where children in Manchester and beyond will always have a roof over their heads and a council with their best interests at heart, no matter what"

ENDS.