Homeless issues after covid

With people’s incomes slashed, job losses mounting, and people hanging onto their homes by a thread, the pressure on charity services to help has been high during 2020-2021 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many people who are self-employed or on zero-hours contracts that have had to isolate or who have been unwell with covid have had a big loss in income with no real back up.

Although there has been an ease in restrictions recently, many businesses have failed to re-open leaving many people without an income at all. The highest furlough rates, as of May 31, were for accommodation and food services, and also arts, entertainment and recreation sectors.

While food retail boomed – and is seeing the fall-off now that we are all going out to eat again – other retail, especially that anchored on the high street, has been a long story of closures including smaller independent shops that relied on footfall. 

High-street shops and shopping malls had been having difficulties already, not least because of online competition, and a pandemic was the last thing they needed. In 2020, total retail sales volume fell marking the largest annual fall on record.

International travel remains a very depressed sector and the July 19 freedoms haven’t helped much, with the US and many other parts of the world remaining closed to UK nationals. Also, people can’t afford to travel with prices, even for staycations, rocketing.

There is support available to support those in need, but the reality is that the majority of households are only one paycheck away from not being able to pay their bills and risk becoming homeless and this has put further strain on mental health, and for the charities and NHS to support.

Private renters are some of the most vulnerable to homelessness. Research from the charity Shelter found that in March These concerns are not unfounded when a quarter of private renters (2 million people) have seen their income decrease between October 2020 and March 2021, and many are struggling to pay their rent. During February and March: 

• 24% of private renters have had to borrow money to pay their rent  
• 18% cut back on food or skipped meals to pay their rent 
• 12% cut back on heating their home to pay their rent 

We are now looking at homelessness in a different light. The struggles in the last 18months have shown more people how easy it is to become homeless and how hard it is to ‘just get a job’ especially with the impact on people’s mental and physical health at this time.

Charities have experienced a devastating loss of funds at a time when they have also had a lot of extra costs, from additional therapeutic services and finding additional accommodation to basics like needing more toiletries, anti-bacterial wipes, food and medication for those in need.

Charities have had to find a way to continue to support its clients and adapt. Many have moved online as there was an inability to publicly fundraise and accept physical donations during the pandemic and lockdowns. There is a cost to moving online and that is why Wishy has tried to ensure that there are no monetary costs to using the platform for charities and public donations are more important than ever.