MORE than 150 people in North Somerset were homeless this Christmas, new estimates suggest.

Shelter, a housing charity, has said that, across England, the number of homeless people rose by 14 per cent in the last year.

Research undertaken by the charity has also revealed that 153 people were estimated to have been homeless in North Somerset this Christmas.

Of these, 147 lived in temporary accommodation – organised by social services, the council or themselves – including 52 children.

Meanwhile, six of the total homeless population are sleeping rough.

309,000 people across the country were without a home this festive season.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Homelessness is on nobody’s Christmas list, but 309,000 people will spend this time of year in a tiny hostel room or freezing in a doorway."

Ms Neate blamed the housing emergency on 'chronic underinvestment' in social homes, with people unable to afford rising rents.

"It is appalling that the Government has allowed thousands of families to be packed into damp and dirty B&Bs and hostel rooms, which are traumatising children and making people desperately ill," she added.

"Until the Government takes this emergency seriously, our frontline services will do everything they can to help people keep or find a safe home this winter.

"It is only with the public’s support we can continue to provide vital advice and support and fight for the solutions people want and need to end homelessness."

In England, one in 182 people are homeless.

This is compared to one in 1,418 in North Somerset.

When asked about what it is doing to tackle this problem, a spokesperson from North Somerset Council said: “Affordable accommodation is a local and national issue with many properties in the private rented sector having a higher average rent than the local housing allowance. 

"In North Somerset we have used funding from National Government to improve schemes and incentives to ensure homeless prevention is at the heart of what we do and this is reflected in our statistics for successful prevention cases which are above the national average and more than double than some neighbouring local authorities with our homeless relief statistics showing a similar trend.

" The Local Housing Allowance is set to increase in 2024 which will hopefully ease the pressure on many households seeking an affordable property to rent and will enable us to continue improving on the great work we do to prevent and relieve homelessness.”