Meanwhile, London mayor Sadiq Khan promised to end rough sleeping in the city by 2030 before his re-election. Big Issue Group’s blueprint for change is calling for that goal to be replicated across the UK.
But before you can tackle a problem, you must first learn the scale of the issue. That’s why it is vital that we know the facts and figures about homelessness. Here are the numbers you need to know:
How many people are homeless in the UK? How does the UK compare to other countries?
Homelessness in England, Scotland and Wales (as well as Northern Ireland) is typically measured separately but recent analysis by the FT found that one in every 200 households in the UK is experiencing homelessness.
That means the UK does not fare well against other developed countries.
John Glenton, executive director of care and support at Riverside housing association, said: “Shamefully, the UK tops the global league table with by far the highest rate of homelessness in the developed world with one in 200 households living in emergency temporary housing.
“It is now crucial to focus on solutions and work with the government to end this national scandal and international embarrassment.”
How many people are homeless in England?
The latest official statistics show 358,370 households contacted their local authority for support after being threatened with homelessness or losing their home in 2023-24, up more than 10% in a year. Of these, 324,990 were assessed as homeless.
Record numbers of households are living in temporary accommodation in England. A total of 123,100 households were living in temporary accommodation on 30 June 2024 – higher than at any other point since records began in 1998 and an annual increase of 16.3%.
The number of households with children in temporary accommodation rose by 15.1% to 78,420. The total number of children living in temporary accommodation has now reached 159,380 children.
Responding to the figures, Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “These figures are further evidence that the current approach to tackling homelessness is failing.
“It is absolutely heartbreaking that hundreds of thousands of children are being forced to live in substandard temporary accommodation. No child should have to sleep in a damp and mouldy B&B. With the cost of living increasing, the number of social homes being built decreasing, and benefits remaining frozen, this will only get worse unless we adopt a new approach.
“The Westminster government must be courageous through its upcoming homelessness strategy to reverse these trends and put in place solutions that provide safe and affordable accommodation to everyone who needs it. We cannot become desensitized to these statistics. Behind these numbers are struggling parents anxious about how they will keep a safe roof over their children’s heads. These figures are a call for action – and they require an immediate response.”
Meanwhile, an estimated 3,898 people were counted as sleeping rough across England on a single night in autumn 2023. The official rough sleeping snapshot was up more than a quarter on the 3,069 people counted in 2022 and is more than double the 1,768 people on the streets in 2010.
The London-only Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) figures are considered to be more accurate than the official one-night count.
The most recent annual count showed 11,993 rough sleepers spotted on London’s streets between April 2023 and March 2024. That’s a 19% increase on the previous year’s total and 58% higher than a decade ago.
In October, a quarterly count showed an 18% increase between numbers recorded through July to September 2024 when compared to same period in 2023.
How many people are homeless in Wales?
The most recent statistics showed more than 13,000 households were assessed as homeless last year by councils, an increase of 8% on the year before.
The number of households living in temporary accommodation is at its highest point on record, rising 18% in just one year to reach 6,447 households as of 31 March 2024.
The Welsh government published a white paper outlining a plan to end homelessness in 2023.
Andrew Connell, policy manager for The Salvation Army, said: “It’s disappointing to see the number of people who are experiencing homelessness in Wales going up again. The Welsh Government’s white paper is a step in the right direction. However, both the Westminster and devolved governments must address the shortage of affordable housing stock, especially social housing.
“As one the UK’s largest providers of support to people who are experiencing homelessness, we would also like to see more done to prevent homelessness repeating. That includes removing barriers to finding work and accommodation such as being unable to access a bank account due to not having an address. Poor financial stability is a major barrier preventing people rebuilding their lives.”
An estimated 192 people were sleeping rough in Wales as of July 2024.
How many people are homeless in Scotland?
The most recent annual statistics found there were 40,685 homelessness applications to local authorities in 2023-24, up 4% in a year and reaching the highest point since 2011-12.
There were 33,619 households assessed as homeless or threatened with losing their home.
A total of 16,330 households were living in temporary accommodation as of 31 March 2024. This is 9% higher than 15,039 the previous year and the highest number on record.
The Scottish government has declared a housing emergency in the country. Following the recent publication of annual homelessness statistics, Simon Community Scotland has declared a ‘people emergency’.
The charity’s CEO Lorraine McGrath said: “Behind the housing system emergency is a growing people emergency, being felt most acutely by those who find themselves stuck in an ever more limited system of homelessness.
“There are fewer and fewer safe places for people to go. Our streets are not safe; it destroys your mental health and wellbeing, you can find yourself existing in a bed and breakfast or temporary accommodation that will never be home, too often now for months and years.
“We’re trying to keep their spirits up and offer hope and people are displaying tremendous resilience. We have a people emergency and at a scale we have not seen before and it’s growing and person by person we have to find ways to respond.”
Scotland doesn’t use the same method of counting rough sleeping as England and Wales. Rather than counts and estimates, statisticians rely on reports to local authorities.
The number of households that reported sleeping rough the night before applying to local authorities for support increased from 1,493 in 2022-23 to 1,916 a year later. A total of 2,931 households said they had slept rough in the previous three months.
How many women are sleeping rough in the UK?
Women are often missing from rough sleeping counts because they tend to be less visible than male rough sleepers due to the risk of violence on the streets. That means women are more likely to seek shelter in cafes, transport hubs or other places rather than bedding down outside.
A coalition of homelessness and women’s organisations in London joined forces to tackle the issue in October 2022. Their first national census across England found the number of people sleeping rough could be as much as nine times higher than the official rough sleeping count.
In the 41 areas covered in the census, frontline teams found 816 female rough sleepers compared to just 189 covered in the official count.
Experts believe as many as 5,000 women could be missing from official rough sleeping counts in England.
How does homelessness affect health?
Three quarters of people experiencing homelessness quizzed in a 2014 Homeless Link survey reported a physical health problem.
Meanwhile, 80% of respondents reported some form of mental health issue, while 45% had been officially diagnosed with a condition
Around 40% said they take drugs or are recovering from a drug problem, while 27% have or are recovering from an alcohol problem.
A total of 35% had been to A&E and 26% had been admitted to hospital in the six months before they took part in the survey.
What do people think about homelessness?
The general public consider homelessness a serious problem in the UK, according to a poll carried out in January 2023 by Ipsos Mori and the Centre for Homelessness Impact.
Of the 2,152 UK adults quizzed for the poll, three-quarters said they expected the issue to increase in the country they live in over the next 12 months.
However, there were misconceptions around the reality of homelessness in the UK. People expected just over half of those currently experiencing homelessness to be living with alcohol or drug dependency when in reality that is not the case, even for rough sleepers.
There remains a stigma around homelessness. A poll from homelessness charity House of St Barnabas found 70% of Brits don’t consider unsuitable accommodation a form of homelessness, despite lacking a secure place to live fitting the definition of statutory homelessness.
Less than half of those quizzed considered sofa-surfing or staying with relatives or friends as homelessness while 82% told the charity they wouldn’t know what to do if they found out someone who knew was homeless.
What is hidden homelessness?
Hidden homelessness is the term used to describe people who do not have a permanent home and instead stay with friends or family.
Also known as sofa surfing, many people in this situation may not consider themselves homeless and may not seek support from services. This makes it difficult to know exactly how many people are homeless, especially as they are not on the streets like rough sleepers and, therefore, not visible to frontline homelessness outreach workers.
Homelessness charity Crisis has estimated that as many as 62% of single homeless people do not show up on official figures and run the risk of slipping through the cracks.
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 showed that hidden homelessness could take many forms: whether it be sofa surfing, living in unconventional structures like mobile homes or outbuildings, squatting or overcrowded accommodation.
The review also showed that women, young people and ethnic minority groups are more likely to find themselves affected by hidden homelessness.
How do most people who are homeless die?
Nearly one in three people die from treatable conditions, according to a 2019 University College London study. Researchers warned that more preventative work was needed to protect physical health and long-term condition management, especially for more common conditions such as cardiovascular disease.
Homeless deaths have only been counted in recent years. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s pioneering Dying Homeless project counted the deaths of 796 people in 18 months before handing over the project to the Museum of Homelessness in March 2019.
MOH’s count recorded 1,313 deaths across the UK in 2022 – that represented a 2% rise compared to 2021 when 1,286 people died.
MOH was not able to establish the cause of death for every person who died in 2022. But the group did find 36% of deaths where a cause was established were related to drugs and alcohol and 10% died by suicide. Both rates were similar to 2021 levels.
MOH director Matt Turtle said: “With a heavy heart we expect to report more of the same in 2024, but with our colleagues we will continue to do what we can to save lives.”
Overall, more than 4,000 deaths across the UK have been counted by the Dying Homeless project since 2019.
MOH used a combination of freedom of information requests, local news reports and submissions from the public to produce a count covering all kinds of homelessness, ranging from rough sleeping to people living in hostels and temporary accommodation. That method differs from the official counts where death certificates are analysed for signs a person died without a stable home.
The first official Office for National Statistics figures for England and Wales arrived three months before the end of TBIJ’s project, reporting 597 estimated deaths in 2017. The most recent count reported 688 people died without a secure home in 2020 with Covid accounting for just 13 deaths.
The ONS consulted on plans to discontinue homeless deaths statistics in early 2024 – citing concerns over accuracy – but ultimately U-turned following calls for the figures to remain.
The first-ever official homeless deaths count in Scotland arrived in 2020 using a similar methodology to the ONS.
The National Records of Scotland’s latest count found an estimated 242 homeless deaths in Scotland in 2023 – down by just two deaths on the previous year.
Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said: “These figures should represent a wake-up call for politicians of every party. Behind every one of these figures is a real person –someone robbed of their potential. These people formed a part of our communities and they will be missed.
“Yet, the sad truth is that in many cases, these deaths will have been avoidable. Each year, more people are forced into homelessness, often trapped for long periods in emergency accommodation. We know how much damage that can do to your health.
“But it doesn’t need to be this way. We urgently need the Scottish government and opposition to press on with plans to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place.”
How can we end homelessness?
Homelessness is a complex issue and, as a result, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
It takes effort to remove the reason why someone is homeless and also treatment for the trauma and mental toll of homelessness.
More broadly, there also needs to be efforts to address the systemic drivers of homelessness and that also takes political will to focus the sufficient resources in the areas where they will make a difference.
Homelessness experts, charities and organisations propose plenty of changes to how society operates to end homelessness for good. That includes tackling drivers of homelessness evictions from private rental homes, benefits that don’t keep pace with inflation and unaffordable housing. Other solutions, like Housing First, are aimed at helping people off the streets.
You can keep the pressure on the politicians too by writing to your local MP, AM or MSP urging them to keep ending homelessness top of the agenda in parliament.
You can also give your time or money to volunteer and donate to help homeless charities doing vital work to help and house people affected by homelessness. There are tons of ways to help a homeless person, even just by donating your coat to help out in winter – cold temperatures are particularly dangerous for rough sleepers.
If you see a person experiencing homelessness on the street in England and Wales, you can contact Streetlink to connect them with support services.
And, of course, you can buy or subscribe to The Big Issue magazine to help us support vendors all over the UK, giving them the means to lift themselves out of poverty.
Big Issue Group is also going beyond the magazine in its mission of Changing Lives Through Enterprise. Find out more here.
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