Record child homelessness and soaring rough sleeping figures: the June Spending Review must deliver more social homes

Today, the government published two sets of homelessness figures: the annual rough sleeping snapshot and the quarterly statistics for those homeless in temporary accommodation.

Both reveal shameful increases and remind us that this June, it's decision time for the government. They must use the Spending Review to invest in the social homes needed to end the housing emergency.

Rough sleeping figures rocket

The rough sleeping figures estimate the number of people sleeping rough on a given night in Autumn 2024. They reveal that:

• around 4,667 people are sleeping rough in England, a 20% increase in a year

• this has almost doubled since 2021, when the pandemic’s 'Everyone In' emergency measures ended

• figures have more than doubled since 2010 when the data started being published in this format – up 164%

Rough sleeping figures are widely considered to be an underestimate of the true scale of street homelessness. This is especially true for some groups, such as women, who may be more afraid to sleep in the open because of the risks of violence when sleeping rough.

Rough sleeping is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to homelessness.

Temporary accommodation at an all-time high

The statutory homelessness figures show that many more people who are homeless – particularly families - are hidden in temporary accommodation. The new statistics reveal that as of September 2024:

• 164,040 children are homeless with their families in temporary accommodation – up 21,650 (15%) in a year. These figures are released every quarter, and this is the seventh new record in two years

• 126,040 households in England are homeless in temporary accommodation – an increase of 16% in a year and another record-high figure

A disturbing proportion of households are crammed into bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) and homeless hostels – widely agreed to be the most damaging type of temporary accommodation. This means little space for children to sleep, play or do their homework. It means sharing a kitchen, toilet, and bathroom with strangers.

• a total of 24,360 households are living in B&Bs and hostels – a rise of 17% in a year

Increasing numbers of households are also being placed out-of-area, meaning the loss of support networks and costly commutes to work and school.

• 38,690 (31%) households have been uprooted to out-of-area temporary accommodation - a 24% rise in a year

Children's lives blighted by homelessness

Temporary accommodation is threatening children’s wellbeing, mental health, education, and – in some cases – their lives. In the last five years, 74 children died with temporary accommodation as a contributing factor to their vulnerability, ill health, or death.

Temporary accommodation is not a suitable place for any child to grow up. Shelter research has shown that:

• over a third of families say their children do not have a bed of their own

Often we only had one bed, so I spent most of my childhood sharing a bed with mum. In fact, in one place, the room was so small we had to eat, sleep, and play on the bed, said Tia. Tia was born in temporary accommodation and spent the first years of her childhood there.

• six in ten (61%) parents report that there is insufficient space to play in their accommodation

This environment is damaging to children’s development and wellbeing.

• six in ten (61%) parents report that temporary accommodation has had a negative impact on their children’s stress or anxiety

• half (52%) report that their children’s depression has got worse as a result of living in temporary accommodation

• one in four parents (28%) say their children are finding it hard to make or keep friends as a result of living in temporary accommodation

The instability of life in temporary accommodation has knock-on effects on children’s education too.

• almost half (47%) of homeless children have had to move schools as a result of being homeless

• one in five (19%) families with school-age children have to travel more than an hour to get to school

• more than half (52%) of parents in temporary accommodation report their children have missed days of school. Of these, more than one in three (37%) have missed more than one month

I had lost my job because we had been moved so far away and my daughter missed about two months of school,- a survey respondent from Shelter’s Still Living in Limbo report.

• one in four (26%) parents say their children are unable to keep up or have performed poorly at school as a result of living in temporary accommodation

• 91% of teachers working with homeless children see children who are coming to school tired as a result of their housing issues

It’s decision time for the government

You can’t end homelessness without homes. Safe and secure social rented homes are what’s needed to prevent homelessness and get children out of damaging temporary accommodation. Social homes are genuinely affordable because the rents are linked to local incomes.

We are now facing record homelessness because we simply haven’t been investing in the homes we need. In fact, we’ve been selling them off. In the past decade, there’s been a net loss of more than 200,000 social rent homes due to the right to buy and other policies. That’s why 1.3 million households, including those in temporary accommodation, are now stuck on council waiting lists.

On Wednesday 11 June, the government will decide how much to spend on social housing over the next five years. It can choose to invest in ending homelessness and making fixing the housing emergency part of its strategy to deliver 1.5 million new homes.

The government is also developing its promised Homelessness and Child Poverty strategies. Councils can’t prevent or relieve homelessness because there are so few homes to help people into. Children are living in poverty because they’re stuck in costly and damaging temporary accommodation, when they could be thriving in genuinely affordable social rented homes like the generations before them.

Together we can end child homelessness

We need your help to campaign for increased social housing.

Email your MP and tell them it’s time to make the right decision, build more social homes, and end child homelessness.

Please donate today so that services like our free national helpline and local hubs can help more families enforce their rights to a suitable, settled home.

Anyone who is facing homelessness can get free and expert advice from Shelter by visiting our get help page.