Evidence base for preventing homelessness and rough sleeping strategy

Statutory homelessness began to rise in 2010/11; prior to that there had been consistent reductions since 2003/4 when work to prevent homelessness was first introduced. The rise in homelessness was attributed to a number of things, chiefly the reduction in the amount of social housing available and benefit restrictions which made accessing the private rented sector more difficult for those on low incomes. The rise in the number of statutory homeless households led to a greater number of these going into temporary accommodation (TA); often bed and breakfast, sometimes remaining there for a number of years (particularly in London). The number of households in temporary accommodation in England almost doubled between 1998 and 2002. Numbers continued to rise until mid-2004 when they stabilised and began to fall slowly. By 2011 they were almost back to 1998 levels but beginning to rise again. They have continued to rise – by mid-2021 there were 96,600 households in TA in England.

The number of rough sleepers also grew significantly from 2010, gradually levelling off by 2019. A number of core cities saw significant increases though, and there were concerns about EU migrants with no recourse to public funds. MHCLG responded with targeted funding and programmes to tackle rough sleeping. Housing First schemes were developed which prioritised giving someone a stable home alongside tackling the problems that had led them to sleep rough.

Welfare benefit changes have also impacted on homelessness over the past three to four years. From 2018, those aged under 35 were only eligible for the shared room rate of the local housing allowance (used to calculate housing benefit); previously the restriction had applied to those under 25.

An ICF report for MHCLG on the initial implementation of the new HRA powers and their impact published in March 2020 highlighted that the majority of local authorities had commissioned new services from third parties in response to the legislation. This may in part reflect significant reductions in some services in the preceding years: a WPI report for St Mungo’s and Homeless Link estimated that between 2008/9 and 2017/18 spending on single homelessness reduced by 50%, almost entirely due to changes in funding for Supporting People activities.

The ICF report also noted that the majority of local authorities felt that the lack of affordable housing was the biggest barrier to resolving homelessness.

Finally, in 2020 the Ministry of Justice established homelessness prevention task forces to find accommodation for those leaving prison to prevent them ending up rough sleeping. There is some early evidence that this is leading to significantly more homelessness approaches from those with an offending history.

Table 6 below shows the reason for loss of last settled accommodation for those households for whom a statutory duty was accepted by the local authority. Figures are shown for 2015. 2016 and 2017, prior to the introduction of the HRA. Because they show only households where the statutory duty applied, these will be mainly families with dependent children or households with a support need or other barrier to finding their own housing

Source: GOV.UK statistics

Around 30% of all acceptances were due to loss of an assured shorthold tenancy, generally a private sector tenancy. Parents, other family or friends no longer willing to accommodate was the reason for more than a quarter of homelessness acceptances. Violent relationship breakdown/domestic abuse was the next largest group. These reasons for loss of last settled accommodation had been consistent since 2010.

Table 7 below shows the reason households were awarded priority status in line with the legislation. Not surprisingly, the vast majority were households with dependent children; a smaller number were households where someone was pregnant. Mental health issues accounted for around 10% of applications, with physical disability slightly lower. The low number of households awarded priority status due to domestic violence/abuse reflects the fact that many of these applications will have included a family with children.

Source: GOV.UK statistics These tables are included to paint a picture of the national trends prior to the HRA