The Guardian view on homelessness: do ministers care?

The rising tide of rough sleeping and families ending up in temporary accommodation should have alerted the government to the effects of its policies. It's shocking that no one seemed curious about this hardship

The National Audit Office report into homelessness lays bare the legacy of human waste caused by the callous indifference and intellectual vacuity of Compassionate Conservatism, a Tory creed - promoted by David Cameron - where responsibility shifted from the state to individuals, families and communities.

Looking at the NAO's assessment of the cack-handed way that the housing safety net was handled, this "philosophy" appears an empty political slogan designed to shield the Tory party from the charge it was balancing the budget on the backs of the poor. It's no surprise that a mixture of high rents and welfare cuts put people out on the streets. Rough sleeping more than doubled since 2010. The numbers of households in temporary accommodation rose by 60%.

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