Government must act on escalating homelessness crisis

As new figures out today show an 11.4 per cent rise in homelessness in England, The Salvation Army has called for the new Government to take urgent action before more people lose the roof over their heads.

Official data shows 86,520 households in England became homeless or were at risk of homelessness between January and March 2024 – including 28,560 families with children. This is six per cent higher than in the same period last year.

• 38,440 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness, and therefore owed a prevention duty which is down 0.6 per cent from the same quarter last year. 
• 48,080 households were initially assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty, up 11.4 per cent from the same quarter last year.
• On 31 March 2024, 117,450 households were in temporary accommodation, which is an increase of 12.3 per cent from 31 March 2023.
• 7,780 households were not provided with accommodation because they were not in priority need. This is an increase of 49.6 per cent in the absolute number of households compared to January to March 2023.

Director of The Salvation Army Homeless Services, Nick Redmore, said: “We are in the midst of a growing homelessness crisis. As these figures show, people living on the streets are just the tip of the iceberg. There are also thousands more, including children, living in temporary or emergency accommodation while others are forced to sofa-surf or sleep in cars and sheds.

“To truly tackle this crisis there must be a range of action from the new Government that helps both those who are homeless and those at risk. To support people off the streets, the law must be changed so all those forced to sleep rough are deemed in priority need by local authorities and are offered temporary and then longer-term accommodation. To stop people becoming homeless in the first place, the Government must also maintain the local housing allowance so people on low incomes can afford rising rents.

“Furthermore, the Government must plan ahead to deliver sustained investment in housing stock, especially social housing, to meet the needs of the growing numbers of people who lack a home.”

The Salvation Army is calling for: 

• A change to homelessness legislation in England so that rough sleepers are added to the priority need list for emergency and then longer-term housing. But, in the long term, for the priority need list to be abolished so everyone who is homeless can be helped.
• To maintain the value of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to protect it against a rise in inflation so the poorest households can at least afford the cheapest third of private rental properties in their area.
• Introduce the same recording system of the rough sleeping population as in London (CHAIN statistics) to other cities and regions in the UK with high levels of homelessness. Providing detailed information on the number of homeless people across the whole country in need of support would help  both national government and local authorities better plan their homeless support and prevention services.