GOVERNMENT data has shown that the number of households assessed as homeless in Northumberland has more than doubled in just five years.

In 2018/2019, 655 families were assessed as homeless in the county. However, in 2023/24 that figure has now risen to 1,337.

It comes amid an ongoing row between Labour and the Conservatives in the county over the Government’s proposed new housing targets. Under the plans, the county’s housing target will increase by 222 per cent from 549 homes a year to 1,768.

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Labour councillors say the figures show the need for more housing across the county. However, the Tories have branded the new target “absurd” and said homeless people are housed “quickly” by the council.

Northumberland Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Anna Watson, said: “The Conservatives left Britain broke and broken, but Labour has a plan to fix the foundations and get this country back on its feet and thriving again.

“Over 14 years the Tories systematically failed to build the homes we need, and that has pushed up homelessness and the costs of housing. It is a disgrace that 1337 families in Northumberland haven’t got a home.

“That means disruption and worry for them, and higher costs for local council tax payers. Labour is taking action to get Britain building so local families can afford to live in decent homes in the areas they want to live in.”

Data from the council itself this summer showed that there are more than 14,000 people on the housing list. Of these, 306 were in Band P – classed as having an urgent housing need and usually reserved for the homeless.

The deputy leader of the council, Cllr Richard Wearmouth, slammed the Labour opposition over the Government’s housing targets.

He said: “Anna Watson and her Labour colleagues are desperate to find any excuse to concrete over the Northumberland greenbelt since Keir Starmer said Northumberland had to build 17,000 extra houses  – whilst telling his pals in London they could build 20,000 less.

“However, using homelessness as a reason is a new low. People become ‘homeless’ for all sorts of reasons, financial circumstances, health deterioration, escaping an abusive relationship.

“At any one time there are about 200-300 people in urgent need of a home and the council houses them quickly. There are another set of people who are not in a home optimised for their needs and the council also prioritises them in allocating housing.

“This is all an entirely different thing to Labour’s absurd quest to build thousands of homes in the Northumberland countryside which should be being built in London or Newcastle. The people of Northumberland weren’t born yesterday, they know what housing their communities can cope with, when and how.

“Labour in Northumberland need to stop trying to pull the wool over their eyes and own their government's poor decisions.”