Dan Rogerson MP for North Cornwall

Dan Rogerson, MP for North Cornwall has called attention to the plight of the 'hidden homeless' of Cornwall, written out of the official statistics which were published today.

Official figures from the department for Communities and Local Government show that the number of people accepted as homeless has fallen in Cornwall. But according to Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson, this is only half the story.

Mr Rogerson said:

"One in five families homeless households in Cornwall are not accepted for rehousing because they are not deemed to be in 'priority need'."

"To be recorded as 'accepted' a household will have had to approach a local authority, be able to complete an application, been considered as eligible by the local authority, been recognised to be homeless and then as unintentionally homeless, and finally be accepted as a 'priority'."

"Nationally, this excludes over ten thousands households who eligible for assistance, but not deemed to be a 'priority'. This is nonsense: every family needs a home. More than ninety-six thousand households are in temporary accommodation: more than double what it was when Labour came to power.

"Independent research published by Crisis shows that in fact there are up to 380,000 hidden homeless households in Great Britain the majority of whom are single homeless people living out of sight in hostels, Bed & Breakfasts, squats or in temporary or insecure conditions with friends and families."

"The government must undertake a census of the hidden homeless to identify all those written out of the official statistics and to enable local councils to take appropriate action to deal with homelessness."