There were 271,000 households recorded as homeless in England at the start of 2023 according to charity Shelter. However, new statistics from January to March this year show how quickly the situation is worsening, with unprecedented amounts of people reaching out to councils for help or while record numbers are living in temporary accommodation.
And it is not always a visible problem. Hidden homelessness, also known as sofa surfing, is virtually impossible to count as people staying at friends or relatives homes are out of sight and often don’t consider themselves to be homeless.
The Big Issue is committed to tackling poverty and preventing homelessness. With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis left in its wake, scores of UK households remain at risk of falling into homelessness.
It is vital that we have an accurate idea of how many people are homeless in the UK – if you don’t know how many people need help, how can you help them?
How many people are homelessness in the UK?
Overall, Crisis estimated that around 227,000 people were experiencing the worst forms of homelessness – rough sleeping, sleeping in vans and sheds, and stuck in B&Bs – across England, Scotland and Wales in 2021.
That figure is projected to rise beyond 300,000 households on any given night in 2023, the charity warned in its Great Britain Homelessness Monitor report. The report arrived as the country was in a state of flux with the cost of living crisis, rising rents and the withdrawal of emergency measures in place during the pandemic set to see more people fall into insecure positions.
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But, as we know, homelessness is difficult to quantify. There are many different types of homelessness; as well as rough sleeping, many people may find themselves stuck in temporary, insecure accommodation like hostels or shelters. Between January and March this year, 105,000 households in England were recorded as living in temporary accommodation, including 130,000 children – this is the highest on record since 1998.
Another method of counting how many people experience homelessness is keeping track of how many households contacted councils for help with homelessness, known as statutory homelessness. Over 80,000 households in England contacted their local council for help between January and March 2023 – the highest number since records began in 2018.
English councils helped more than 278,000 households with homelessness between April 2021 and March 2022. That’s up 16% on the previous year but 9% below pre-Covid levels.
No-fault (section 21) evictions are a leading driver of homelessness and the Westminster government promised to ban them in 2019. Ministers are set to axe no-fault evictions in the upcoming Renters’ Reform Bill, but rates are still surging in the meantime. There has been a more than 40% increase in no-fault evictions since 2022, with 2,228 households served a section 21 notice between April and June this year alone. More than 23,000 households have been evicted through the courts after receiving a section 21 notice since 2019.
As for Scotland’s latest official homelessness statistics, the number of applications to local authorities for help with homelessness remains lower than before the pandemic but is rising.
There were 28,882 homeless households recorded in 2021/22, up from just over 28,000 in the previous year. That accounts for 32,592 adults and 14,372 children.
In Wales,11,704 households were assessed as homeless or owed a duty by local authorities to help them secure accommodation between April 2021 and March 2022. That’s an 11% decrease in the number of people who need support in 2020/21. A total of 10,872 individuals were also reported to be in temporary accommodation in Wales during May 2023.
As for the number of people rough sleeping, the latest official count estimated a total of 3,069 people were sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2022 in England, up by a quarter on the 2,440 in 2021. The rise was the first recorded since 2017’s peak.
However, the number of people sleeping rough has grown steadily since 2010, and the number of people counted in 2022 was 74% higher than the 1,768 people spotted 12 years earlier.
Traditionally, the official rough sleeping figures are often thought to be a considerable underestimate as they rely on single-night counts and estimates by local authorities.
Efforts are underway to improve the quality of data on street homelessness. The government has pledged to publish management information on a quarterly basis as part of its strategy to end rough sleeping in England by 2024.
The latest data shows 2,447 people were estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in March 2023. The official figures show a rise of 342 people or 16% since the previous quarter in December 2022 and a rise of 641 people or 35% since the same time in 2022.
The Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) is thought to be a more accurate method. This tracks the flow of rough sleeping over a longer period with multiple agencies reporting contact with people on the streets. However it only currently operates in London.
Nevertheless, Chain annual figures show a much higher number of people sleeping rough and that number has increased sharply in the last year. A total of 13,325 people were spotted sleeping rough on the streets of London between April 2022 and June 2023 with 3,272 of those spotted between April and June this year.
Homelessness charities warned that the cost of living crisis was driving that rise. A total of 6,391 people were spotted sleeping rough in London for the first time – up 26% on the 5,091 people spotted a year previously.
In 2021/22, 2,129 households reported sleeping rough in the three months before making a homelessness application to their local council while 1,304 households said they’d been rough sleeping the night before.
Both of these figures are lower than any previously recorded since records began in 2002/03.
Counting the number of people rough sleeping is notoriously difficult. Often people can be hidden meaning they are missing from statistics.
This is a particular issue for women who face an increased risk of violence and often choose not to bed down on the streets, instead seeking shelter in places like transport hubs, cafes or even choosing to walk all night instead.
A coalition of homelessness and women’s organisations in London joined forces to tackle the issue in October 2022. The resulting women’s rough sleeping census found 154 women, including trans and non-binary women, sleeping rough in London in a week.
That number was higher than previously thought with an extra 71 women found across 13 London boroughs when the data was compared to the latest official rough sleeping count. Organisers believed the number could be even higher.
People who might be described as “hidden homeless” are often slipping through the cracks. Crisis has estimated that as many as 62% of single homeless people do not show up on official figures.
The Office for National Statistics carried out a review into the scale of hidden homelessness across the UK in March 2023 but statisticians noted that the available information means “it is not currently possible to estimate the true scale of hidden homelessness across the UK”.
However, the review did lay out the many types of hidden homelessness, including sofa surfing with friends or relatives, living in unconventional structures like mobile homes or a tent or overcrowded accommodation or squatting in disused buildings.
ONS statisticians also revealed that women, young people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to experience hidden homelessness and, therefore, missing from homelessness statistics. This could mean they are unable to access support to help them into a secure, permanent home.
Homelessness is an issue that affects every country and there are different approaches to tackling the issue too.
Finland has perhaps come closest to solving the problem of street homelessness. Their adoption of the Housing First model over the last 30 years has seen rough sleepers given a home alongside intensive wraparound support to help them adapt to their new surroundings and to deal with issues like addiction or mental health problems.
The Housing First model has become a big part of the UK’s response to homelessness and has proven particularly successful in Scotland with England and Wales developing programmes.
But the Finnish success story is the result of a 30-year commitment by successive governments and it remains to be seen whether the Housing First model can play such a significant role in ending homelessness in the UK.
Finland was cited as a benchmark as Prince William launched his Homewards programme to end homelessness.
The Westminster government announced it was extending rough sleeping pilots in the West Midlands, Manchester and Merseyside as part of the strategy to end rough sleeping by 2024.
England is lagging behind its smaller neighbours in Scotland and Wales, according to Crisis’ Homelessness Monitor report covering Great Britain.
England has much higher rates of the worst forms of homelessness than the devolved nations and more of its homelessness spending is spent on temporary accommodation compared to prevention and support, academics found
What can you do about it?
If you see a rough sleeper, send details of where and when you see them, as well as a brief description of the person, to StreetLink using their website, app or phone line. StreetLink is operated in partnership by Homeless Link and St Mungo’s. Scotland has no centralised service so you should check for contact details of your local council.
Alerts are monitored by volunteers at St Mungo’swho check information and forward them on to outreach teams. Every day hundreds of alerts are received by StreetLink.
And, of course, for more than 30 years The Big Issue has been on the frontline offering a way out, and one of the best things you can do is to buy this magazine every week, take your copy and support your vendor as they work hard to earn their way out of the poverty trap.
This article is updated regularly with the latest information.
Urgent action is needed to prevent even more people being pushed into homelessness. A secure home is the first step in addressing the cruel cycle of poverty to ensure people can fulfil their potential. Join us to keep people in their homes.
