“All eyes now on the government to finally deliver a homelessness strategy which eases the pressures that are causing people to lose their homes in the first place. The tragedy of thousands suffering homelessness from the damage done by poverty is something that we could eliminate, if government seriously put resources into not allowing poverty to be all that you have at birth.”
A total of 147,870 households needed council support to prevent homelessness with almost 40% of those cases down to the end of a private rented tenancy.
A landlord wishing to sell or re-let the property was the main reason why households faced eviction although the 21,920 households represented a 2.6% decrease on the previous year.
The Labour government has introduced the Renters’ Rights Act to give tenants greater security and is set to ban section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions from May next year.
Nye Jones, head of campaigns at Generation Rent, said: “Our broken private renting system is the biggest cause of homelessness. But councils have no choice but to push people back into it, causing a revolving door of insecurity and misery.
“The Renters’ Rights Act banning section 21 evictions will help stem the tide from private renting into homelessness, but landlords will still be able to evict in order to sell the home. Meanwhile, new protections from being kicked out could become meaningless if sudden rent hikes cause us to be priced out instead.”
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
There was also a 10% increase in the number of households facing homelessness leaving accommodation provided by the Home Office for asylum support, rising to 3,820 households. Since September, the Home Office has cut the “move-on” period from 56 days to 28 days for new refugees.
There was a 13.1% rise in households becoming homeless after leaving institutions such as hospital, prisons, or looked after child placements, reaching 10,860 households.
Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said the government’s upcoming strategy will be “critical to addressing the root causes” of homelessness including the flow from institutions into homelessness.
The year also saw a rise in the number of care leavers, aged 18 to 20, facing homelessness, increasing from 4,310 to 4,610 and representing more than one in 10 care leavers.
“It is particularly worrying that 600 of these young people faced homelessness straight after leaving a care placement, for example, from foster care or a children’s home. This is a clear indication of a failure of planning,” said Linda Briheim-Crookall, head of policy and practice development at Coram Voice.
A total of 132,410 households were in temporary accommodation across England as of June this year, including 172,420 children.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
The latest annual statistics showed 41,250 households were placed in temporary accommodation outside their local area as of March this year. They were most likely to be in nightly paid accommodation, such as hotels and B&Bs, with 26,520 households making up 64% of that total.
Read more:
Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England & Wales, said: “Today’s homelessness figures show little change in overall homelessness or youth homelessness, but stagnation should not be mistaken for progress.
“Behind these numbers are thousands of individuals and families facing the same entrenched pressures as last year — from insecure private renting, to family or friends unable to accommodate, to rising use of temporary accommodation. A plateau does not mean the crisis has eased; it simply means it has not improved.”
Labour has pledged to focus on prevention to reduce homelessness.
The autumn budget promised to slash child poverty through the end of the two-child limit on benefits from April next year.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
But the government opted to leave local housing allowance rates untouched despite pleas from homelessness charities and campaigners to ensure housing benefit reflects rising rents.
Nick Redmore, director of The Salvation Army’s homeless services, said: “The best way to tackle homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Yet the government’s failure to lift the freeze on housing benefit in yesterday’s autumn budget has left hundreds of thousands of people unable to afford a roof over their head.
“We recognise that the government must make difficult economic decisions, but this must not come at the expense of people already struggling to survive. If the freeze on housing benefit continues it is certain to seriously undermine the government’s long-awaited strategy to tackle the homelessness crisis.”
Now all eyes are on that strategy, which must deliver “an emergency response to the immediate crisis, and an ambitious, resourced plan to transform homelessness support”, according to Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson.
Homelessness minister Alison McGovern said: “Everyone deserves a roof over their head, yet these figures show too many people are at risk.
“We are tackling the worst forms of homelessness and figures show we are reducing the worst forms of temporary accommodation with on-going reductions in B&B use. Given that research found temporary accommodation was linked to the deaths of 74 children in the five years to 2024 it is vital we continue this work
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
“That’s why our upcoming homelessness strategy will set out bold steps to prevent homelessness and provide lasting solutions. Alongside our record investment of over £1 billion and £39 billion for social and affordable housing, we are creating a system where homelessness happens less and ends faster.”
Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more.
Change a vendor’s life this Christmas.
Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – or support online with a vendor support kit or a subscription – and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.
