A local charity says the issue of homelessness in the borough is 'a big problem and it’s going to get worse.' 

This comes after it was revealed that 146 households in the borough were either threatened with homelessness or have become homeless between October and December 2021, figures released by the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities show. 

Bracknell Forest Council received 735 homeless applications in 2020/21, an increase of nearly 30 per cent on the previous year. 

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Director of the local homeless charity Pilgrim Hearts Trust, Elaine Chalmers-Brown, said: “You have people who are in accommodation and are just about managing, but they are on the edge.  

“They are also coming to us for food and other help. We are in the middle of a storm […] the numbers are only going to increase.” 

The figures show that the overwhelming majority of people in the borough who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness are under the age of 44, which Ms Chalmers-Brown puts, in part, down to falling into rent arrears due to the cost-of-living crisis and inadequacies in Universal Credit (UC) payments. 

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“If you look at a single flat in Bracknell, the rent is £800. Under UC the rent you get is much less than that, immediately there’s a discrepancy between the two. A lot of private landlords won’t even take on people on UC,” she said. 

“I think people living on it during the pandemic realised that trying to live on that amount of money is not sustainable. According to Mr Sunak, UC won’t be raised because the computer system doesn’t allow it. It’s not true. 

“Most affordable houses are not being built and affordable housing is still £250,000,” she added. 

The data also shows that the most common support required by people being left homeless or at threat of homelessness is help with their mental health. 

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Ms. Chalmers-Brown said: “People don’t know whether to heat [their home] or feed their children. That will not help their mental health as they go forward.  

“You are putting a time bomb on something that may happen 10-15 years ahead. It would actually save the country money in the long run to tackle the issue now. 

“There isn’t a silver bullet but what you need to do is up the UC [as well as] get the landlords and housing associations on side.  

“It’s not simplistic, it needs a holistic approach. We want to give people a hand up not a handout.” 

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Executive Member for Adults Services, Health and Housing, Councillor Dale Birch, said: “We cater for all reasons for homelessness ranging from parental evictions, loss of private rented accommodation and domestic abuse, along with a multitude of other reasons. 

“We have a team available to help anyone who may find themselves at risk of homelessness and encourage people to contact us as soon as possible.”