Shadow Homelessness Minister visits Milton Keynes to learn about rough sleepers

The Shadow Homelessness Minister this week visited Milton Keynes to learn about the city’s efforts to tackle rough sleeping,

Mike Amesbury MP was welcomed by Councillor Emily Darlington, Cabinet member for Homelessness, who has overseen the successful homelessness response by Milton Keynes City Council.

The Shadow Minister received a tour of the Old Bus Station, where council operates a 19-bed emergency shelter that has supported hundreds of individuals since opening nearly two years ago.

He also toured homelessness charity UnityMK and learnt about the importance of bringing voluntary and statutory support services together under one roof.

The visit concluded with a roundtable with members of the MK Homelessness Partnership, including colleagues from the council, NHS, Probation Service and police. They heard the need for more affordable housing to tackle homelessness, investment in prevention, and the end of no-fault evictions – alongside long-term funding from Central Government to allow proper planning of services.

Councillor Emily Darlington, who is standing to be Labour’s MP for Milton Keynes Central at the next general election, said: “Five years ago, MK was dubbed ‘tent city’ and now nobody needs to sleep on the streets. This is all down to the collaborative efforts by the City Council and its partners, who continue to work tirelessly to support people off the streets and into safe accommodation.”

Figures show the council spent more than £10 million on temporary housing for the homeless in Milton Keynes in the year to March 2023.

Mike said: “It was great to see some of the excellent work being done to tackle homelessness...The rise in homelessness in Milton Keynes and all over the country is being driven by a chronic shortage of decent, secure and affordable housing after fourteen years of Tory failure.

“This Government is failing to get a grip on our country's homelessness crisis. A toxic mix of rising rents and a failure to end no-fault evictions are hitting vulnerable people.

“Labour has called for emergency legislation to scrap section 21 evictions and end automatic evictions for rent arrears, and we have set out plans to build more affordable and social housing to get people into safe, secure homes.”