'Christmas is soul-destroying if you are homeless'

More than 22,000 people in Kent, Surrey and East and West Sussex are homeless or in temporary accommodation, a homeless charity has revealed.

Shelter's report into homelessness revealed 382,618 people in England, including 175,025 children, will spend this Christmas without a home – an 8% increase from 2024.

In 2025, the charity said 350,480 people were in temporary accommodation – a form of homelessness.

Mairi MacRae, director of communications, policy and campaigns, said it was supporting families everyday who were "terrified" of spending the winter in "grim and grotty insecure temporary accommodation".

Daniel Bingham, who previously lived on the street, said homelessness "could happen to anyone".

The 44-year-old said he suffered a cardiac arrest at work in May 2021 and three years later came out of a long-term relationship.

"I then started sofa surfing for a while. I ended up on the street. I slept in car parks and on cardboard," he said.

"I worked all my life, I had never thought I would be in that position."

Mr said Canterbury-based homeless charity Porchlight "saved my life".

He said when the charity told him it had a flat for him and his dog, Bella, he "thought he had won the lottery".

Jayne Hendy, a Porchlight support worker, said: "Christmas is soul-destroying when you're homeless.

"You see the lights in houses that are never yours, families celebrating, the warmth and joy you can only look at from the outside."

She said every year she saw people alone in the cold while the world celebrated.

"The streets don't forgive. Every winter, someone doesn't make it," she added.

"Everyone deserves a warm place to sleep and someone who cares if they live or die. No one should spend Christmas alone in the cold."

Porchlight said unless something was done about the homelessness crisis, hundreds of lives in Kent could be in danger this Christmas.

Spokesperson Chris Thomas said: "Every day, people who have nowhere left to turn are ending up on the streets; some for the first time, others having to go through it for a second or third time.

"They are all cold, scared and losing hope. Nobody should have to live like this."

Mr Thomas added that people who were homeless could risk life-threatening conditions, including hypothermia.

The government recently announced a £3.5bn investment to halve the number of long-term rough sleepers and prevent more people from becoming homeless in the next five years.

It said the strategy included a target to halve the number of ex-prisoners who become homeless on their first night out of jail and to ensure no eligible person was discharged to the street after a hospital stay.

Housing secretary Steve Reed said homelessness was "one of the most profound challenges we face as a society".

"Through our new strategy we can build a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and not repeated," he said.

Mr Reed added that the government aimed to "turn ambition into reality."