More than half a million renting households have experienced homelessness – Crisis responds

Crisis is urging the government to establish a centralised Unit for Ending Homelessness to tackle all forms of homelessness

New figures released today (Thursday 18th July 2024) show that 512,000 households across the private and social rent sectors have experienced homelessness in the last few years.

Figures from the newly released English Housing Survey 2022-2023 show that:

• 193,000 households (4%) in the private rented sector said they experienced homelessness in the last few years.
• 319,000 households (8%) of renters in social housing said they experienced homelessness in the last few years.
• 3% of private renters (122,000 households) and 3% of social renters (120,000 households) had someone stay with them in the past year because they were experiencing homelessness.

Yesterday, the King’s Speech made clear that housing is a priority for the Westminster government with the introduction of a Renters Rights Bill, which will include banning Section 21 'no fault' evictions – currently one of the leading causes of homelessness in England – and new planning laws.

These are welcome steps forward that will lay a foundation for ending homelessness. Labour committed to a cross-government strategy to get the country back on track to ending homelessness in its manifesto.

To achieve this and build on the measures in the King’s Speech, Crisis is urging the government to establish a new Unit for Ending Homelessness, backed by the Prime Minister and sitting at the heart of the government.

This would be able to unite different departments to develop a cross-government strategy to tackle all forms of homelessness. It can also support the government on its pledge to deliver a generation of new affordable and social homes. Research commissioned by Crisis shows that we need to build an additional 90,000 social homes annually for the next 15 years to end homelessness.

Responding to today’s statistics, Matt Downie, Crisis Chief Executive, said: “Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced into a life of homelessness. These figures highlight precisely why we need bold action from the new government if we are to start to bring the levels of homelessness down.

“We’ve seen welcome proposals on housing and rights for renters this week, but we need clarity on how the government will deliver the new generation of social homes promised and also how they will head off councils facing a financial cliff edge, as they struggle to cope with rising demand and limited resource.

“The next 100 days is the perfect opportunity for the new Westminster government to start to make inroads on its manifesto commitments. Establishing a Unit for Ending Homelessness, backed by the Prime Minister and sitting at the heart of government, would ensure a coordinated approach that is desperately needed if we are to enact change and build a future free from homelessness.”

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Notes to Editor

• The English Housing Survey 2022 – 2023 can be found here.
• Results for households are presented for ‘2021-23’ and are based on fieldwork carried out on a sample of 20,932 households. Throughout the report, this is referred to as the ‘full household sample’.
• Respondents were asked: “Can I just check, have you yourself ever been homeless in the last few years? Please include times where you have had to stay in a hostel, in temporary accommodation or with friends or family because you had lost your home and had no accommodation to go to.”
• This year’s figures have shown a slight decrease in the total number of households who have reported experienced homelessness in the last few years, compared to the previous English Housing Survey. The English Housing Survey 2021 – 2022 report showed 210,000 households in the private rented sector and 360,000 households in social rent reporting having experiencing homelessness in the last few years (compared to 193,000 and 319,000 households respectively in the 2022 – 2023 report).