What can a rough sleeper do with big words?

The Government is learning a painful lesson -with big words come with big responsibilities.  You can’t pin values to your sleeve and display them proudly whilst people see the world falling apart around them.

That is why Ed Miliband’s attacks on Cameron failing on the NHS are effective, the public still hear the PM’s solemn oath that the “NHS is safe under the Conservatives” whilst they see him dodging a debate with NHS workers.

Homelessness is another area where the Government has made a big show. The Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, pushed for a cross departmental ministerial group to ensure the issue was taken seriously across Government. He made a big show of reforming the way rough sleeping is measured so that the numbers published “reflect the situation on the street” and late last year managed to find £20m for single people facing homelessness. Even the Prime Minister got in on the act writing in the foreword to a report on homelessness:

“It is an affront to this country that last winter [2010], one of the coldest on record, there were still people sleeping rough on our streets”.

Tough words all round.

So correct me if I am wrong but hasn’t this winter has been bloody cold too? If the rough sleeping figures published recently are right, then rough sleeping has gone up by a quarter since last year. This is the second statistical release since Shapps changed the way rough sleepers are counted so it is clear that more people are having to sleep rough under this Government.

By rights then we should all be indignant and affronted that Cameron and Shapps haven’t done more to solve the problem?

It is a salutary lesson for Labour too, don’t talk the talk unless you’re willing to walk the walk. And housing is an area where Labour needs more of both. The two things that mean we still have a housing crisis on our hands and keep people homeless are rents and supply. Everyone knows that rents are too high. And everyone knows we need more housing.

Those are two things that the politicians can do something about. Labour should push the Chancellor to use some of the tax receipt windfall he’s received this month to fund some serious housebuilding to generate jobs and homes. And Grant should take a leaf out of Ken Livingstone’s policy playbook and support a policy like a Living Rent, a fair rents policy covering all tenures which looks to stop landlords cashing in on extortionate rents.

Of course, neither Osborne or Shapps will do any of that. Words are easy – actions are hard.

Sleeping rough – that’s even harder still.