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ON THE RISE: Homelessness among BAME communities (Photo credit: Matthew Woitunski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode)

THE CONSERVATIVES promised to “combat homelessness” and said their success would be judged by how “we care for the weakest and most vulnerable”, but new analysis reveals the opposites.

Figures, shared exclusively with The Voice, show that:

· The number of black households classed as homeless has increased 67 per cent.

· Since 2010, the number of households accepted by local authorities as homeless where someone in the household identifies family as Asian or British Asian has doubled - increasing by 112 per cent to 5,560 in 2016/17.

· Over the same period, the number of Chinese families accepted as homeless has increased by 83 per cent.

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said: “The scale of rising homelessness shames us all. After seven years of failure on housing, falling homelessness under Labour has turned into rising homelessness under the Conservatives.

“There was an unprecedented decline in homelessness with the last Labour government, but the number of homeless households has increased by half since 2010 and these figures show that it ethnic minority groups who have been worst affected.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Ministers urgently need to get a grip, back Labour's plans to end rough sleeping and build thousands more affordable homes.”

See figures on homelessness are based on Department for Communities and Local Government statistics:

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