THE HOMELESS PROBLEM

A walk through the streets of London would reveal thousands of empty houses. Many of these have been empty for months if not years but this is not a sign of a solution to the housing problem as these figures show. "Figures for the first six months of 2012 indicate that the housing crisis has worsened. They show that 1,910 families with children were forced to stay in B&B accommodation, compared with 1,020 in the same period in 2011. A record 820 families lived in such accommodation for more than six weeks in the same period – higher than the number for the whole of 2011." (Guardian, 24 December) What the working class suffer from is not a housing problem but a poverty problem. RD