Today, 30.04.2025, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government published the latest Statutory Homelessness Statistics for October to December 2024.
The main findings are
- The number of households in temporary accommodation continues to rise and is at record levels. 127,890 households were in temporary accommodation on 31 December 2024, up 1.5% from the previous quarter and up 13.6% from the same time last year.
- 165,510 were living in temporary accommodation as per the end of December 2024, an increase of 13.7% on December 2023.
- The most common length of time for households with children to have spent in temporary accommodation is 5+ years.
- 83,800 households were initially assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness and owed a statutory homelessness duty in October to December 2024, down 7.7% from the same quarter in 2023.
- The end of a private Assured Shorthold Tenancy remained the most common reason for households to be owed a prevention duty, accounting for 36.5% of cases. However, this was a lower proportion than the previous four quarters.
- 5,820 households were threatened with homelessness due to service of a Section 21 notice to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy – a decrease of 1.4% from the same quarter last year.
- 17,690 households were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty, up 9.3% compared to October to December 2023.
Responding to the statistics, Dan Wilson Craw, Deputy Chief Executive of Generation Rent said:
“Behind every statistic are thousands of stories of people facing some of the most stressful, traumatic and insecure times of their lives. More and more children are spending their formative years trapped living in temporary accommodation, often in overcrowded and unsafe conditions and at huge cost to local authorities. This is a national scandal that demands government action.
“Our rental system is broken. With rent prices soaring far beyond what we earn, people become trapped living in temporary accommodation because they simply can’t find somewhere affordable to live.
“The Government’s house building programme is welcome, but will take years to have a noticeable impact. People need change now. It must intervene to slam the brakes on soaring rents, while also unfreezing Local Housing Allowance so those on low incomes have more options in finding a home.”
