There is one statistic above all which provides the punchline to the sick joke that is ‘One Nation Conservatism.’ Since the Tories returned to power in 2010, the number of rough sleepers in London has increased from 3,600 to 7,500. Contrast this revolting reality with the Tories’ claim that they have fixed our economy and the truth is laid bare: the Tory recovery is a recovery not for the many, but the few.

As if this were not bad enough, that figure is the tip of a sinister, looming iceberg. Because, for every rough sleeper, there are perhaps 10 or more people who we rather tragically call, ‘The hidden homeless.’ People who exist in a sort of purgatory where they move from one abode to the next – often risking physical or sexual violence to do so.

These are the outcomes of a catalogue of warped decisions taken by a government intent on dividing and ruling. Consider the myriad causes of homelessness – domestic violence, mental illness, unfair wages, a lack of genuinely affordable housing, insecure work. Then consider the disastrous policies of this government on all of these issues …

Cuts to adult social care, cuts to mental health services, wages continuing to lag behind prices, half a million zero-hours contracts, the attack on trade unions via the trade union bill, spiralling rents, and a property ladder inaccessible to all but a privileged few. Every risk made greater, every night made harder.

This is the human cost of heated-up neoliberalism. A pernicious ideology which hides behind a mask of ‘efficiency’, while in the long run it creates greater inequalities and greater inefficiencies in every aspect of our society. And the result? Two nations writ large on Britain’s streets as we walk past human beings clinging to life in shop doorways – hungry and freezing and homeless.

Meanwhile the Labour party – the greatest force for social justice in the history of our country – is engaged in a grotesque civil war. The magnificent opportunity afforded by a membership which has nearly doubled in size is not yet being taken fully as the parliamentary Labour party and the Labour leadership battle it out for control of the wider party and the movement at large.

But above the fray of factionalism, something is stirring in the Labour movement nonetheless. Launched six months ago, The Labour Campaign to End Homelessness is a network of activists from across the United Kingdom who are intent on doing two things to achieve the ultimate aim of ending homelessness.

First, we are bringing together members from across Labour’s broad church to get out on the streets and deliver much-needed supplies to rough sleepers in all major cities across the UK. Second, we are working with leading lights like our patrons, Tom Copley AM and Teresa Pearce MP, to devise policies which we believe will end all forms of homelessness in our country.

Some key policy ideas at this stage are: 1) Raise the minimum wage to a real living wage, 2) Increase tenancy rights and properly outlaw revenge evictions, 3) Incentivise businesses to employ homeless or formerly homeless people 4) Double the funding given to mental health services nationwide and 5) Local councils to open up empty buildings and maintain them so that nobody sleeps rough while they are searching for a new home.

These are just initial ideas and there are many more on the way. So, if you are a Labour member or supporter and you believe in a politics of doing, rather than talking, then join our campaign and together we will end homelessness.

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Sam Stopp is a councillor in the London borough of Brent and chair of The Labour Campaign to End Homelessness, which tweets @LabourCEH. email the campaign here

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Photo: vlastula