Lorna Tucker's film 'Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son' in cinemas early February
Posted 05.02.24
Dartmouth Films: Further reading
Successful filmmaker, Lorna Tucker was once a teenage runaway sleeping rough on the streets of London.
For this frank, forceful and inspiring documentary, she returns to her former haunts and speaks to current and former homeless people about why, 25 years later, record numbers of people are still reduced to living on Britain's streets.
The above link provides details of cinemas screening Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son from the second week of February onwards.
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More than 26,000 no-fault bailiff evictions since government pledge to scrap Section 21
Posted 08.02.24
Shelter: Further reading
New government figures show that 26,311 households in England have been removed from their homes by court bailiffs as a result of Section 21 since the government first promised to scrap no-fault evictions in 2019.
The figures on repossession and evictions, released by the Ministry of Justice, also show 9,457 households were kicked out of their homes by bailiffs in the past year - up by 49% from 6,339 households in 2022.
A further 30,230 landlords in England started Section 21 no-fault eviction court proceedings in 2023 - a 28% rise in one year.
Section 21 evictions are a major contributing factor to rising homelessness because they allow landlords to evict tenants with just two months' notice without having to give them a reason.
Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Shelter, said: "It's utterly shameful that the government is bowing to vested interests while renters are marched out of their homes in their thousands. How much longer are renters expected to live with the threat of unjust no-fault evictions hanging over them?"
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Flaws in homelessness data highlight the need for an effective national data infrastructure
Posted 16.02.24
Civil Service World: Further reading
This article by Resham Kotecha from the Open Data Institute considers the need for strong data infrastructures that would enable better anticipation of social needs and design services that respond to them.
We include reference to it in this section as it includes reference to issues identified with data about homelessness. The following are relevant extracts.
Rough sleeping statistics show there were an estimated 3,069 homeless people in 2023.
However, these official statistics may not provide an accurate overview of rough sleeping since the data is collected on a single night and only counts people who are asleep or about to "bed down". In cold weather, people are more likely to take refuge in shelters.
Women are under-reported as they often adopt safety measures to keep them off the street, such as sleeping on night buses.
People living in severely overcrowded accommodation are excluded from the figures.
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