LABOUR has described the homelessness crisis as a “national scandal” and it is not far wrong.

In County Durham and Darlington, 1.5 children per 1,000 are homeless and living in temporary accommodation.

That usually means bed and breakfasts or hostels.

Thankfully, our area is not the worst in the country – Newham in London has 110 children per 1,000 in temporary accommodation while Birmingham has 35.

But this is still a big problem, for at least two reasons. Firstly, temporary accommodation is no place for children to get a good start. Unsettled and always on the move, their life chances are diminished from the word go, which is not fair on them and is storing up problems for society in the long term.

Secondly, it is expensive. Nationally, there are 151,630 homeless children, up by 15 per cent on last year. Finding expensive temporary accommodation for these families costs the taxpayer £1bn a year.

So we need a strategy that’s going to help the children and the taxpayer.

Only a couple of weeks ago, The Northern Echo revealed how there were more than 10,000 empty homes in County Durham – 6,593 of them had been empty for longer than six months – and 1,966 in Darlington. So on the one hand, we have all these empty homes, and on the other hand, we have people, including children, who desperately need a home.

Is it too simplistic to suggest that we borrow from the money the taxpayer will pay to keep the homeless in expensive B&Bs, use it to get some empty homes repaired, and then give the children a permanent roof over their heads while their families begin to stand on their own two feet again?

READ THE FULL STORY ABOUT THE LOCAL HOMELESSNESS FIGURES HERE