New statistics suggest England faces 'homelessness epidemic'

Households with initial homelessness assessments have risen by over six per cent compared to last year, statistics from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have found. 

It found that 94,560 households had these assessments between January and March this year. 

Just over 86,500 households were assessed as owed a duty to prevent or relieve homelessness.

Additionally, 38,440 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness, and therefore owed a prevention duty which is down by almost one per cent from the same quarter last year. 

This includes 6,630 households threatened with homelessness due to service of a Section 21 notice to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy – an increase of more than one per cent from the same quarter last year.

At the end of March, 117,450 households were in temporary accommodation, which is an increase of 12.3 per cent from last year.
Households with children increased by 14.7 per cent to 74,530, and single households increased by 8.5 per cent to 42,920. 
 
Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link, the membership body for homelessness services, said that England faces "a homelessness epidemic."

Henderson added: "People’s lives are being blighted by insecurity while the costs mean councils across the country are facing bankruptcy. Clearly this must change."

He said that while the new government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity and recognition of the importance of a safe and stable home through building new social housing were welcomed, but that it needs to "prioritise swift action."

The report also found that 1,270 households required a prevention duty after leaving accommodation provided by the Home Office, an increase of 108 per cent on the previous year. Almost 5,000 households required a relief duty after leaving accommodation provided by the Home Office, an increase in 348 per cent compared to the previous year.

Henderson went on to say: “Years of hostile government policies towards people seeking asylum in the UK created a backlog of cases at massive cost to the Home Office, with huge numbers of people trapped in asylum accommodation.

In an effort to address the mounting backlog, in August 2023, the previous government, without consulting local authorities or the homelessness and migrant sectors, suddenly changed the procedure for ending asylum support once a decision had been made. This resulted in many people being given less than 28 days, and as little as seven days in many cases, to make move-on arrangements after being told to leave their asylum accommodation.

“The result was the huge increase in the number of newly recognised refugees experiencing homelessness we see today, as they had so little time to apply for entitlements and work with local authorities and charities to find long-term accommodation. For people who had already fled their home country in traumatic circumstances, sleeping rough in a new country was deeply traumatising, with many likely to live with the impact for years to come. Meanwhile underfunded services still continue to see high numbers of newly recognised refugees turning to them for support.  

 “The new Government must learn from these mistakes and increase the move on period from asylum accommodation from 28 to 56 days, in line with the Homelessness Reduction Act. This will give local authorities and charities the crucial time needed to work with people leaving the asylum system to find suitable accommodation and give them the stability to build the new life they’re entitled to.”