'I nearly died after living in temporary accommodation - system needs to change'
A man who nearly died from alcohol addiction after “living in hell” in temporary accommodation has called for the system to be overhauled.
Lee, 49, said he experienced the “worst time of his life” after being placed in a “filthy” shared house by his local council. A massive shortage of social housing is pushing thousands of people into unacceptable circumstances, including overcrowding or temporary housing, according to homelessness charity Shelter.
More than one million households are currently waiting for social homes, it said. Due to the shortage, some 100,000 households, including more than 140,000 children, were living in temporary accommodation at the end of 2023, according to the latest official statistics.
In Lee's case, he was unable to be housed in a private space and was placed in hostels and temporary accommodation. Speaking about a particularly bad time in a shared house, he said: “It was an absolute nightmare and the rest of the people in there, god bless them, were all in addiction. So you can imagine the situation I was in. It was just literally living in hell. The house was absolutely filthy from top to bottom.
"I was developing more of an alcohol issue because I was having a drink to be able to cope with where I was living and the types of people that I was living with. It got really serious and I was in hospital and on a life support machine in intensive care. It was possibly the worst time of my life.”
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Former chef Lee, who can’t work as he is registered disabled, eventually escaped the ”perpetual cycle” of emergency accommodation and got his life back on track after a social impact investor, which uses private and public funding, provided him with a one-bedroom flat to himself.
Big Society Capital helps investors put their money in more socially responsible areas. It today published research showing its funding approaches have housed more than 3,000 people at risk of homelessness in the last ten years - and has saved local and central Government £140million. The findings are based on analysis by Alma Economics of five funds managed by social property fund manager Resonance Ltd, which have between 2013-2023 acquired over 1,000 properties.
It is calling on the Government to better spend taxpayer money amid a dire social housing crisis as it said it could house more than 20,000 people over the next decade. It wants the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to increase its existing investment in homeless property funds, in which public investment is matched by private investment.
Speaking about his new home, Lee said: “Thank God for the company who owns this property because otherwise I would have no chance, in my situation, where I've come from. I’d either have just been left out on the streets to die or I'd just be in a perpetual cycle of hostels and emergency accommodation.
"The system needs to be looked at. I was one of the lucky ones. Wouldn't it be nice if people didn't have to go through all that sort of living hell and their needs were met? I know no one could wave a magic wand… In order to sort this out, you’ve really got to get to the root of the issues here."
Gemma Bourne, Managing Director at Big Society Capital, said: "The alarming reality is that vulnerable individuals and families are enduring substandard living conditions in temporary accommodation. This is not good for them and it puts a heavy financial toll on Local Authorities, pushing them dangerously towards bankruptcy.
"It also underscores a glaring shortage in social and affordable housing – with research showing that £16.9 billion will be needed every year to address undersupply. Our report demonstrates a solution which has now existed for over a decade - but for it to adequately address the challenge at hand, we need government to act now to actively crowd in further investment.”
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