Government figures show homelessness at record high amid housing affordability crisis
Homelessness in England reached a record high in 2022/23, rising by nearly 7% year-on-year, according to new government figures.
Data published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities showed that 298,430 households faced homelessness in England in 2022/23, up by 6.8% compared to the previous year.
The number of households in temporary accommodation was recorded at 104,510, also the highest on record.
Councils spent £1.7bn on temporary accommodation for homeless households in 2022/23, a 9% increase in just one year – and a 62% rise in the last five years.
One third of the total – £565m – was spent on emergency B&Bs and hostels, which are often considered the worst accommodation for families with children to live in.
Rapidly rising rents and a lack of security means there was a 27% increase in the number of households who faced homelessness due to a private rented tenancy coming to an end. Meanwhile there was a 30.5% increase in people assessed by the local authority as sleeping rough.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: ‘Not only is £1.7bn spent on temporary accommodation outrageous, but it’s also illogical. We simply can’t keep throwing money at grim B&Bs and hostels instead of focusing on helping families into a home. With a general election on the horizon, no one can afford to continue to ignore a crisis of this magnitude.
‘Housing benefit should cover the bottom third of local rents but the government has kept it frozen since 2020 while private rents have skyrocketed. This decision combined with the decades of failure to build enough social homes has meant that families can’t find anywhere affordable to live and as a result are forced into homelessness in cramped and unsuitable temporary accommodation, often miles away from their children’s schools and support networks.
‘As an immediate solution, it’s vital the government uses the Autumn Statement to unfreeze housing benefit so it does what it’s meant to do: stop people on low incomes from becoming homeless. However, the only lasting solution to the housing emergency is to invest in genuinely affordable social homes with rents tied to local incomes.’
Emma Haddad, chief executive of homelessness charity St Mungo’s, said: ‘It doesn’t have to be this way. There are interventions that would prevent people getting to the brink of homelessness and reverse this homelessness crisis. I have written to the Chancellor, along with colleagues across the sector, imploring him once again to raise housing benefit so that it covers the bottom 30% of local rents, as per the government’s own stated policy, rather than just 5% of rented accommodation as now.’
Image: Ben Hershey
Welsh government introduces White Paper to minimise homelessness levels
Government scraping the ‘bare minimum’ to tackle homelessness, charities warn