More than 5,000 homeless across Yorkshire and the Humber - Shelter

More than 5,000 people, including 2,000 children, are recorded as homeless in the Yorkshire and Humber region, figures from charity Shelter show.

Shelter's analysis found while vast the majority had been placed in temporary accommodation about 170 people are sleeping rough on any given night.

Chief executive Polly Neate said many faced "a truly bleak 2023".

"A cold doorway or a grotty hostel room is not a home, but this is reality for too many people," she said.

She said the charity was bracing itself for a sharp rise in homelessness.

"With private rents and living costs continuing to soar, thousands of people are not just facing a winter of worry, they are at risk of losing the roof over their head," she said.

"Our frontline advisors are working tirelessly to help people who are desperate to escape homelessness - from the parents doing all they can to provide some shred of a normal family life while stuck in an emergency B&B, to the person terrified of another night sleeping rough."

Chris, 44, from Sheffield, said he found the experience "exhausting".

"For six months, I was working ten-hour days, five days a week at my job and camping on the street in the city centre every night.

"I cycled six miles each way and managed to hold down my job," he added.

Andrew Omond, from Leeds homeless charity St George's Crypt, said: "Coming out of Covid, and then being hit by the cost of living crisis [has meant] the economy is is a perilous state.

"That sadly affects the most vulnerable," he said.

Rochelle, who the charity has helped, said being homeless had been extremely difficult, especially for her children.

"They've been on top of each other all the time and haven't really had the space in order to escape," she said.

"We had no stability whatsoever."

Research from Shelter also found that living in temporary accommodation was hugely detrimental to people's health.

In a survey, almost two-thirds of people (63%) said it had a negative impact on their mental health, with more than half saying it had affected their physical health.

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