We need a permanent solution

But when the strains of “Auld Lang Syne” fade away in January, ministers tend to forget about the soup kitchens they visited just a few weeks before.

This year, though, things should be different. The government is, rightly, being held to account over rocketing homelessness figures, which have more than doubled since Labour came to power in 1997.

Tony Blair and John Prescott should be ashamed of this – and a flurry of activity in the Westminster village this week suggests that they are.

The problem is, despite fine words from the deputy prime minister on temporary housing, people remain suspicious that his motivation is not to eradicate the causes of homelessness, but to eradicate the possibility that the issue might cost Labour votes. And political point-scoring with people’s lives is a very ugly business.

Comments by Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of charity Crisis, that the actual number of homeless households is closer to half a million than 100,000 will keep the pressure up, but were maybe ill-timed given that the ODPM has finally loosened its purse strings to help the sector do more.

Now it has the ear of the government, the sector needs to push its solutions as hard as it can.

In January, ministers tend to forget about the soup kitchens they visited just weeks before

Temporary housing is the principal area in which swift action can make a difference and it’s a problem that’s been looming large since councils met the March target for getting families out of B&Bs. A number of models could be adopted for turning temporary homes into permanent ones.

For instance, we’ve reported before on a scheme in east London where council homes are transferred to an RSL that manages temporary housing and builds new properties.

This achieves two things: less housing benefit is used to rent private homes, so more funds stay in the public purse, and households get a chance at a permanent, affordable tenancy in their previously temporary home, helping them out of the poverty trap discussed by Chris Pond.

The extra money and the appetite to do more to help people out of poverty are evidence that the government is prepared to listen. It’s up to the housing sector to ensure that, long after the Christmas decorations have been taken down and when the ballot boxes are being prepared, homelessness is not sidelined once more.