Sajid Javid "handed out lie after lie" about homelessness, says former homelessness tsar

5 December 2019, 16:33

"What is he on to just sit there and hand out lie after lie?" said the former homelessness tsar after the Chancellor claimed homelessness had fallen by half since 2008.

He continued that it was “Labour that was responsible for the massive rise of homelessness”. 

Charity Shelter has confirmed homelessness has not halved but in fact has increased 9% since 2008.

"Politicians must just tell the truth when it comes to statistics," said Dame Louise Casey, who also heads up the World’s Biggest Sleep Out Trust.

"Almost two decades later since we published the government strategy called Come in from the Cold, the numbers of people on every single indicator of homelessness are up."

She continued that since 2010, the number of people that are sleeping rough has gone up 165%.

Dame Casey worked for four Prime Ministers over two decades and said "I think that's what happening at the moment is unbecoming of what's going on in politics."

She continued that Sajid Javid didn't get his facts wrong, "he decided to spin his facts and he made a big big mistake. He lied and he shouldn't lie."

"The only thing he could've said, if I'm attempting a little moment here for him is he should've said last year for the first time since 2010 the number of people that they counted sleeping rough had dropped by 2%, which is about 70 people."

"It's gone up by 165% and it went down by 2%."