In politics, it’s the people you feel you have let down that you never forget.

For me. It’s the rough-sleeping veteran whose post-traumatic stress stopped him from being able to go to my local hostel. I couldn’t believe I found it so hard to get him a suitable place of shelter.

And back in my days on Southwark Council, the Afghan father whose children had escaped the Taliban, only to have to sleep in the living room because their flat was overcrowded.

I can see their faces.

So, I felt it personally when I read the terrible figures for those who have died while homeless in 2024 . Of the 11 homeless children who died that year, four were babies under the age of one.

Half of the 1,611 homeless people who died did so by suicide or drug or alcohol abuse and 169 were sleeping on the stree

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