Life on the margins: Over a quarter of a million without a home in England today

Posted 01 Dec 2016

A shocking new report today reveals that more than a quarter of a million people are homeless in England.

For the very first time, housing charity Shelter has analysed the most up to date statistics from a variety of sources to reveal the true scale of homelessness in the country. This combination of government statistics, freedom of information requests, and other published homelessness data puts the total number of people homeless at almost 255,000.

To mark Shelter’s founding 50 years ago today, the research is inspired by the charity’s original ‘Green Book’ – the report that launched Shelter in 1966 and exposed the grim reality of life for homeless families at the time. Sadly, the modern-day study also paints a bleak and desperate picture of a 21st century housing crisis affecting families across the nation.

But the homelessness epidemic stretches far beyond the Capital. Areas such as Luton, with 1 in 63 people living without a home, Brighton (1 in 69) and Birmingham (1 in 119) also made it into the country’s top homelessness hotspots.

The new Green Book also identified the country’s top 50 ‘homelessness hotspots’ where people are most likely to lose the battle to stay in their homes. Westminster topped the list with 1 in 25 people living without a home. This was followed by Newham (1 in 27), Haringey (1 in 28), and Kensington and Chelsea (1 in 30).

Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said: “Shelter’s founding shone a light on hidden homelessness in the sixties slums. But while those troubled times have faded into memory, fifty years on a modern day housing crisis is tightening its grip on our country.

“Hundreds of thousands of people will face the trauma of waking up homeless this Christmas. Decades in the making, this is the tragic result of a nation struggling under the weight of sky-high rents, a lack of affordable homes, and cuts to welfare support.

“We all face the consequences when so many in our country grow up without a place to call home. It breaks up communities and wreaks havoc on family life. For the sake of future generations we must pull together to end this crisis, and refuse to rest until every child has a place to call home.”

Shelter’s co-founder Des Wilson said: “It would be pleasing if Shelter were able to take time to celebrate its 50th year, but, as this report shows, it is too aware of what still has to be done. I hope the country will respond to its urgent rallying call with the same combination of anger and compassion with which it supported our work all those years ago.”

Case study: Mandie was renting a flat in Luton with her two daughters, but after being made redundant she fell behind on the rent and was evicted. Since becoming homeless, the family has been surviving by either sofa surfing, or living in emergency hotels or temporary accommodation.

Mandie says: “It’s terrifying how quickly you can lose everything – first my job, then my home, and almost my children. Our last real home was a damp, expensive two-bedroom flat, but at least it was ours. After we were thrown out, I went to stay with a friend for a couple of weeks but we needed a place of our own.

“The council put us in emergency accommodation and I had to apply for housing benefit to pay for it. But it took ages to come through and by the time I had the money, the council said I was “intentionally homeless” and they didn’t have to help anymore. They referred me to social services, who threatened to take my children off me. It was horrifying.

“But finally the council agreed to house us again. We stayed in a hotel for months and now we’re in temporary accommodation. I don’t know where we’ll end up next, or when we’ll be able to have a home to call our own.

“This year my daughters agreed to cancel Christmas. They’re normally hyped about it, but I think they’re trying to take the pressure off me. The only thing they asked for was whether we could still have a turkey dinner.”

To support Shelter’s urgent Christmas appeal and help families like Mandie’s please visit www.shelter.org.uk or text SHELTER to 70555 to donate £3.

Notes to editors:

Heatmap – homelessness hotspots

Coloured heat map showing the rate of homelessness ranked by local authority

This analysis estimates the total numbers of recorded homeless people (adults and children) in England at the most recent point in time possible.
To arrive at a figure for the number of homeless people in England we have added together figures on different forms of recorded homelessness, for the first time. Most of these are from official sources (DCLG figures on temporary accommodation and rough sleeping), plus Social Services figures via an FOI and figures on single homeless hostel bedspaces from Homeless Link’s annual report.
The local level figures are drawn from two of these sources only - rough sleeping and temporary accommodation, because the other datasets are at a regional level only. For this reason, the local totals will sum up to slightly less than the national total.
Our calculations are then used in conjunction with the latest ONS population estimates to produce '1 in x people'.
The figures should be viewed as robust lower-end estimates of recorded homelessness. A number of conservative assumptions have been built into the analysis. For example, that 'other' household types in the temporary accommodation figures contain only two people when they will contain a minimum of two. Additionally, the hostel bedspaces data from Homeless Link have been adjusted down to account for voids (10%) and possible overlap with other figures (a further 50%).
The figures do not include 'hidden' or unrecorded homelessness which is very difficult to quantify, but known to be sizeable. A poll of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by Homeless Link in December 2013, found that 32% of people have experienced homelessness (including sofa surfing and staying with friends) or know someone who has experienced homelessness. 14% had experienced it themselves, 20% knew someone else who had experienced it, 2% said they had both experienced it and knew others who had.”

Table 1: Local results – Top 50 areas

LA	Region	Number of people living in TA [1]	Number of people rough sleeping [2]	Estimated total homeless people [1+2]	1 in x people are homeless	National Rank
Westminster	London	7,794	265	8,059	25	1
Newham	London	12,218	28	12,246	27	2
Haringey [note: lack of data means figures calculated by applying regional average persons per TA household]	London	9,447	22	9,469	28	3
Kensington and Chelsea	London	4,550	24	4,574	30	4
Brent	London	10,527	55	10,582	33	5
Hackney [note: lack of data means figures calculated by applying regional average persons per TA household]	London	7,754	20	7,774	34	6
Enfield	London	9,278	7	9,285	35	7
Tower Hamlets	London	7,335	12	7,347	37	8
Waltham Forest	London	7,239	33	7,272	38	9
Barking and Dagenham	London	5,167	20	5,187	40	10
Barnet	London	7,719	21	7,740	48	11
Redbridge	London	6,094	43	6,137	48	12
Croydon	London	7,716	51	7,767	49	13
Lewisham	London	5,772	9	5,781	50	14
Ealing	London	6,892	31	6,923	53	15
Hammersmith and Fulham	London	3,488	5	3,493	53	16
Lambeth	London	5,529	27	5,556	57	17
Luton	East of England	3,405	53	3,458	63	18
Southwark	London	4,310	32	4,342	69	19
Brighton and Hove	South East	4,017	78	4,095	69	20
Hounslow	London	3,516	27	3,543	80	21
Wandsworth	London	3,964	23	3,987	81	22
Bromley	London	3,996	4	4,000	82	23
Harrow	London	2,960	6	2,966	86	24
City of London	London	38	48	86	91	25
Kingston upon Thames	London	1,784	14	1,798	93	26
Islington	London	2,247	9	2,256	95	27
Birmingham	West Midlands	9,524	36	9,560	119	28
Havering	London	1,939	10	1,949	128	29
Bexley	London	1,856	6	1,862	129	30
Broxbourne	East of England	732	0	732	135	31
Hillingdon	London	2,023	36	2,059	146	32
Watford	East of England	642	12	654	152	33
Camden	London	1,338	15	1,353	160	34
Slough	South East	891	17	908	164	35
Harlow	East of England	518	15	533	169	36
Reading	South East	995	16	1,011	170	37
Basildon	East of England	1,026	13	1,039	179	38
Sutton	London	1,105	6	1,111	180	39
Epsom and Ewell	South East	418	6	424	186	40
Crawley	South East	561	33	594	189	41
Dacorum	East of England	774	4	778	193	42
Bristol, City of	South West	2,185	97	2,282	199	43
Gosport	South East	415	4	419	199	44
Coventry	West Midlands	1,677	9	1,686	204	45
Greenwich	London	1,283	14	1,297	207	46
Richmond upon Thames	London	799	11	810	238	47
Chelmsford	East of England	701	12	713	242	48
Colchester	East of England	751	9	760	246	49
Manchester	North West	1,930	70	2,000	266	50

Table 2: National and regional results

Region	Number of people living in TA [1]	Number of people rough sleeping [2]	Number of people in single homeless hostel (minus adj. for voids/ overlap with statutory) [3]	Number of people in social services TA [4]	Total homeless people	Total people [6]	Rate (1 in x)
North East	981	38	743	146	1,908	2,657,236	1,393
North West	3,953	220	1,782	318	6,273	7,305,557	1,165
Yorkshire and Humber	2,132	160	1,301	114	3,707	5,434,645	1,466
East Midlands	2,997	208	1,116	125	4,446	4,714,696	1,061
West Midlands	14,193	249	1,556	78	16,076	5,799,565	361
London	162,150	940	4,341	2,597	170,028	8,594,560	51
East	13,745	418	1,674	61	15,898	6,127,888	385
South East	18,231	827	2,188	860	22,106	8,955,333	405
South West	6,606	509	1,742	193	9,050	5,501,589	608

England	230,010	3,569	16,443	4,492	254,514	55,091,069	216