Policy paper

Glossary

Published 11 December 2025

Applies to England

A 

• Accountability: This means having clear, transparent responsibilities and expectations for how local and central partners deliver on homelessness and rough sleeping outcomes. It ensures progress is tracked through robust data and local intelligence; underperformance is identified early to make improvements and successes are highlighted for shared learning. It means all partners are answerable for delivering improvements through open dialogue, timely intervention, and shared learning. 

• Asylum Seeker: These are individuals who have left their country, are seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country and are yet to receive a decision on their claim for asylum. As a distinction, a ‘Refugee’ is a former asylum seeker whose claim has been successful, and a ‘failed asylum seeker’ is the status given to an applicant whose claim for asylum has been refused and any subsequent appeals have been unsuccessful. 

• Awaab’s Law:  Awaab’s Law, or the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, places new requirements on the social rented sector to address all emergency hazards and all damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm to tenants to fixed timeframes.   ‘Awaab’s Law’ was brought forward in memory of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died tragically in 2020 as a result of a severe respiratory condition due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home. Awaab’s parents had complained repeatedly to their social landlord in the three years prior to Awaab’s death, but no action was taken by their social landlord to treat the mould. 

C 

• Care leavers: The term care leaver is used to describe a young person who is about to leave care, or a person who has left care. Under existing and proposed new duties eligibility for support vary depending on the young person’s circumstances. Those defined legally as Former Relevant Children are young people who have been in care for at least 13 weeks, some of which was after their 16th birthday. These young people are statutorily entitled to ongoing help and support from the local authority after they leave care. Other young people who have care experience may also have access for some support from their local authority depending on their eligibility.

• Centre for Homelessness Impact: This is the UK-based What Works Centre that aims to end homelessness by promoting the use of evidence and data to inform policy and practice. 

• Changing Futures: This is a cross-government programme that has been working with 15 local partnerships, aimed at improving support for adults facing multiple disadvantage including combinations of homelessness, substance misuse, mental ill health, domestic abuse, and contact with the criminal justice system. 

• Child Poverty Strategy: This is a recently published strategy which sets out how government is lifting children out of poverty. It tackles the root causes of poverty by cutting the cost of essentials, boosting family incomes, and improving local services so every child has the best start in life. See the Child Poverty Strategy here: Child Poverty Strategy - GOV.UK. 

• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently progressing through the UK Parliament. The legislation is designed to strengthen support for children in both care and education, with a focus on safeguarding, wellbeing, and raising standards. It contains measures which will prevent certain care levers form being classed as “intentionally homeless”, a new duty for councils to provide Staying Close support up to age 25 where their welfare requires it and introduces corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies, to recognise the vulnerabilities and better meet the needs of care leavers when designing policies and delivering services. 

• Community and Faith Sector: This term describes the work of grassroots community groups, churches and other faith groups which deliver services to help people experiencing rough sleeping. There is a wide range of these groups – some are formalised charities and employ staff, but others are entirely run by volunteers. (See also the Voluntary sector.) 

• Connect to Work: This is a work programme in England and Wales to help disabled people, those with health conditions and people with complex barriers to employment, to find sustainable work. 

• Complex Needs: This refers to people who need a high level of support with many aspects of their daily life and who may rely on a range of health and social care services. This may be because of illness, disability, substance use, mental ill health, broader life circumstances or a combination of these. 

• Corporate Parenting: This refers to the collective responsibility of the local authority, elected members, employees, and partner agencies, for providing the best possible care and safeguarding for the children who are looked after by local authorities. 

D 

• Decent Homes Standard: The Decent Homes Standard, set by the UK Government, is a set of minimum criteria that social landlords must meet to ensure their properties are decent. Beyond basic health and safety requirements, the Decent Homes Standard defines the features of a decent rented home, including effective heating and insulation, the facilities that should be available. The Government recently consulted on applying the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector.  

• Duty to Collaborate: This proposed new duty builds on the existing English Duty to Refer. It will require named public bodies to take step to identify people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and work with local councils and other public services to help to seek to prevent or address their homelessness. 

• Duty to Refer: This is a duty on named public bodies to refer people who they think may be at risk of homelessness to a local authority of their choice, with the individual’s consent. This is intended to identify households at risk, including when it is still possible to prevent homelessness. 

E 

• Economic Abuse: Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one abusive person has control over the victim’s access to economic resources, which diminishes the victim’s capacity to support themselves and forces them to depend on the perpetrator financially. 

• Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots: These are pilots that government is leading with 20 local authorities with some of the highest B&B pressure for temporary accommodation for homeless families, using bespoke, deliverable action plans to find innovative solutions to local issues around B&B usage.  

• Employment Rights Bill: This will deliver the key legislative reforms set out in the government’s Plan to Make Work Pay. (PDF, 3.8MB) The Bill will update and enhance existing employment rights and make provision for new rights; make provision regarding pay and conditions in particular sectors; and make reforms in relation to trade union matters and industrial action. It further creates a new regime for the enforcement of employment law.   

• Ending Rough Sleeping Risk Assessment Tool: A new tool for local authorities which supports them to make better assessments of an individual’s risk of long-term rough sleeping.  

• Eviction: This describes the dispossession of a tenant of leased property by legal process. 

F 

• Fair Repayment Rate: The Fair Repayment Rate related to Universal Credit. It places a limit on how much people in debt can have taken off their benefits to pay what they owe.   

• Floating support: Floating support services are for people who need extra help to live in their own community-based accommodation. This could include support to manage finances or to work towards an active, healthy lifestyle. The term is used to describe support that is not linked to accommodation and is not provided by the individual’s landlord or housing provider. 

H 

• Hidden homelessness: Hidden homelessness refers to people who are homeless but not visible in official statistics or public spaces. This could include people who are sofa surfing, living in squats or other informal arrangements. There is some evidence certain groups are more likely face hidden homelessness, such as women and LGBT+ individuals.    

• H-CLIC (Homelessness Case Level Information Collection): This is the system used in England to collect detailed data on homelessness applications made to local authorities. 

• Homelessness: Legally, a person is considered homeless if they do not have accommodation that they have a legal right to occupy, which is accessible and physically available to them (and their household) or which it would be reasonable for them to continue to live in. Homelessness is an umbrella term and there are subsections of homelessness including statutory homelessness, rough sleeping, single homelessness, hidden homelessness.  

• Homelessness assistance: Homelessness assistance is support provided by local councils to individuals who are homeless or at risk of losing their home. This includes help with finding emergency accommodation, assessing housing needs, and offering advice or support to prevent homelessness.  

• Homelessness Code of Guidance: The Homelessness Code of Guidance provides a summary of the homelessness legislation and the duties, powers and obligations on housing authorities and others towards people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Homelessness Code of Guidance is kept under review and updated regularly to provide up to date relevant advice, for example following changes to legislation. 

• Homelessness Reduction Act 2017: This act, which came into force in April 2018, places duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. These duties apply irrespective of whether a person has ‘priority need’ or may be regarded as being ‘intentionally homeless’.   

• Hostel: Hostels are a form of temporary accommodation. T with individual bedrooms rooms and shared facilities such as bathrooms and kitchens.  There are a variety of different types and sizes of hostels run by public and private sector landlords and voluntary organisations. 

• Housing Association: Housing Associations are non-profit organisations set up to provide affordable homes for those in need or on lower incomes. 

• Housing First:  Housing First is an approach to addressing homelessness through housing and support provision. It prioritises access to permanent housing with tailored, open-ended, wraparound support for the resident that emphasises choice and control. 

I 

• Intentional Homelessness: This describes the circumstance in which an individual knowingly and deliberately does, or fails to do, something that causes them to lose their home, when they could have reasonably continued to occupy the accommodation available to them. 

• Integrated Care Boards: Integrated Care Boards are statutory organisations that bring NHS and care organisations together locally to improve population health and establish shared strategic priorities within the NHS. 

• Intermediate care: This is short-term, temporary support that helps people recover after a hospital stay or prevents them from needing hospital admission. 

• Inter-Ministerial Group: The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Inter-Ministerial Group includes ministers from across government and oversaw the development of this strategy. The membership includes ministers from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Home Office, Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Health and Social Care, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Cabinet Office, and His Majesty’s Treasury. 

J 

• Jobcentre Plus: Jobcentres help people move from benefits into work and help employers advertise jobs. They also deal with benefits for people who are unemployed or unable to work because of a health condition or disability. 

L 

• Lived Experience: This refers to people who have first-hand experience; in this case, experience of homelessness and rough sleeping. 

• Local authority: A local government organisation, also known as a council, officially responsible for a range of public services, funds, and facilities in their local area. 

• Local Authority Housing Fund: Government funding that supports local authorities in England to obtain housing to use as good-quality temporary accommodation for those owed a homelessness duty and to provide safe and suitable accommodation to support families on resettlement schemes. 

• Local connection: A local connection refers to a person’s established ties to a council area, which may include living or having lived there recently, working in the area, having close family there, receiving care leaver support, or having lived in asylum support housing locally. It helps determine which local authority is responsible for providing homelessness assistance, though individuals can still seek help from any council regardless of connection. 

• Local Government Financial Settlement: The local government finance settlement is the annual determination of funding to local government. It needs to be approved by the House of Commons. 

• Local Housing Allowance rates: This determines the maximum amount of housing support available to claimants in the Private Rented Sector. A claimant’s local housing allowance rate depends on where they live and the number of bedrooms their household is deemed to need, up to a maximum of four bedrooms. 

• Long-term rough sleeping: Long-term rough sleeping means someone has been seen rough sleeping recently and has also been seen on at least three separate months over the past year. 

• Looked after child placement: A looked-after child is someone who is cared for by a local authority for more than 24 hours, either through voluntary agreement with parents, a court-issued care order, or while on remand. This includes children in foster care, residential homes, kinship care, or awaiting adoption, as well as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. A child ceases to be looked after when they are adopted, return home without a care order, or turn 18. 

M 

• Make Work Pay: This refers to a comprehensive overhaul of employment law which sets out the government’s plan to boost wages, reduce insecure work and grow Britain’s economy. 

• Mayoral Strategic Authorities: A mayoral combined authority, a mayoral combined county authority or the Greater London Authority. 

• Modern Slavery: This is a serious crime that violates human rights and in which people are exploited for criminal gain. Modern slavery encompasses human trafficking and slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. Further information on modern slavery can be found in the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for England and Wales and Non-Statutory Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

• Move-on period: In the asylum system this refers to the transition time after a person receives a final decision on their asylum claim while they remain in asylum support accommodation. During this period, they continue to receive Home Office accommodation and financial support before it formally ends. It allows time to apply for mainstream benefits, find housing, and make other arrangements to live independently.  

• Multiple disadvantage: Many people sleeping rough may be experiencing a range of complex and overlapping needs. The Changing Futures Programme (see definition above) defines multiple disadvantage as experiencing three or more of the following at the same time: homelessness; substance misuse; mental ill health, domestic abuse, and contact with the criminal justice system. 

N 

• National Workforce Programme: The National Workforce Programme is a new programme to strengthen and support the capacity, capability and career pathway opportunities for the homelessness and rough sleeping sector’s workforce. The programme is a national grant which will support the essential work of the local authority, voluntary and community sectors. 

• National Youth Strategy: The strategy sets out a long-term vision to give young people the skills, opportunities and connections in their communities they need to thrive and promote safe and healthy lives. 

• Non-UK Nationals who have Restricted Eligibility for Public Funds: This refers to individuals from outside the UK who have restricted access to some forms of support and services as a result of their immigration status, such as having limited leave to remain with an ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition. 

O 

• Outcomes Framework for local government: The Outcomes Framework for local government will set out the national priority outcomes delivered at the local level and driven by councils as local leaders of place. Central and local government will work in partnership, along with key delivery partners, to improve these outcomes for citizens.  The outcomes will focus on the impact of activity on local people and places. Each priority outcome will be underpinned by a set of metrics measuring the extent to which that outcome is being delivered. The metrics will draw on data already in the public domain to avoid new reporting burdens. The framework will be used by central and local government to understand how well local authorities are supporting national priorities. Government will publish the framework in the new year, but the metrics for homelessness and rough sleeping are announced in this strategy.

P 

• Person-Centred: This refers to the practice of involving an individual at the centre of a service they receive, by individualising support and opportunities, so that it is tailored to the person’s preferences, needs and values. 

• Priority need: Section 188 of Housing Act 1996 requires housing authorities to secure accommodation for homeless applicants who have a priority need for accommodation based on certain circumstances (such as pregnancy or having child dependents, being homeless as a result of domestic abuse or an emergency disaster, being vulnerable as a result of a disability or a health condition, or having been in care, prison or the Armed Forces). 

• Public Institution: An organisation established and funded by the government to serve the public interest, implement laws, and provide essential services or regulations for society. Examples of public institutions in the context of homelessness include prisons (adult and youth), general and psychiatric hospitals, asylum support, and children’s social care. 

R 

• Renters’ Rights Act: This received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and reforms the laws regarding rented homes to empower tenants, whilst protecting legitimate landlord interests. Amongst other reforms, the Act will abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions; replaces fixed term assured tenancies and assured shorthold tenancies with periodic tenancies; create a Private Rented Sector Database to help impose obligations on landlords and others in relation to rented homes and temporary and supported accommodation; and introduce the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law to the sector.  

• Rough sleeping: This is the most acute and extreme form of homelessness that is characterised by someone about to, or actually, bedding down in the open air (such as on the street, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments) or places not designed for habitation (including cardboard boxes, stairwells, cars and other makeshift and not fit for purpose places). Rough sleeping does not include people in hostels or shelters or the hidden homeless, such as those sofa surfing but who are nonetheless homeless.  

• Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Recovery and Improvement Grant: This is a grant delivered by the Department for Health and Social Care which, from 2025/26, consolidates several previous grants that were used to support drug and alcohol treatment and recovery, including the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government funded rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment grant and the housing support grant. 

• Rough Sleeping Management Information: This refers to monthly data submitted to Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government by local authorities. The data is a more frequent but less robust estimate of people sleeping rough than the official annual snapshot statistics. 

• Rough Sleeping Questionnaire: This is a research tool developed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to gather detailed information about the experiences, vulnerabilities, and support needs of people who sleep rough in England. 

• Rough Sleeping Snapshot in England: This is an annual snapshot of the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn (1 October to 30 November). Local authorities use either a count-based estimate of visible rough sleeping, an evidence-based estimate based on meetings with local partner, or a combination of the two approaches. The snapshot methodology has been in place since 2010 and remains the most official and most robust measure of rough sleeping on a single night. 

S 

• Sanctuary schemes [domestic abuse]:  A Sanctuary Scheme is a survivor centred initiative which aims to make it possible for victims of domestic abuse to remain in their own homes, where it is safe for them to do so, where it is their choice, and where the perpetrator does not live in the accommodation. This is done by providing additional security – ‘installing a sanctuary’ – to the victims’ property or perimeter. 

• Section 21: A legal notice served by a landlord to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy without stating a reason. Also known as “No-Fault eviction”. As long as the notice is valid and the process is followed correctly, the court must grant possession. If the notice is valid and expires within 56 days, the tenant is considered threatened with homelessness under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, triggering duties for local authorities to intervene. 

• Single homelessness: Single homeless people are a subset of homeless people. It refers to individuals who are homeless but do not have dependent children and who need housing and support. This group often includes people sleeping rough, living in hostels, or staying in insecure accommodation like sofa surfing but a significant number will be supported by their council into accommodation due to their high level of need. 

• Social and Affordable Homes Programme: This programme provides grant funding to support the costs of developing affordable housing in England. 

• Social housing: This is housing available to rent below the market rent or to buy through shared ownership or equity arrangements, that is made available to people whose needs are not adequately served by the housing market. 

• Social rent: Social rent is a type of low-cost rental housing with rent levels based on a formula set by the government. 

• Social security: Social security is monetary assistance from the government to individuals and households to guarantee income security 

• Sofa surfing: Sofa surfing means you have nowhere to live and are staying with various friends or family members in place of your own home.  

• Spending Review: This is the process through which government departments work with HM Treasury to plan and acquire the expenditure needed to deliver public services. This includes funding for homelessness.  

• Staying Close: Staying close is a model funded by the Department for Education to support young people leaving care with practical and emotional help to find and keep accommodation, including ongoing support from someone they know and trust. 

• Statutory homelessness: This is the term used to refer to households that are owed a homelessness duty by a local authority in England, in line with legislation. This applies to households that are at risk of homelessness within 56 days and owed a prevention duty, households that are homeless and owed a relief duty, and households being housed in temporary accommodation.  

• Street outreach: This is support provided by specialist teams who go out, often at night or early morning, to engage with people sleeping rough. Outreach should be tailored to local needs and be coordinated with other agencies to ensure effective, person-centred support. 

• Supported housing: Housing provision that also includes wrap-around support. Residents of supported housing need care, support or supervision, alongside accommodation. Supported housing may, for example, help those with vulnerabilities relating to age, disabilities, substance use, release from prison or care. 

T 

• Tailored support: Tailored support is assistance that is customised to meet the unique needs, preferences, and circumstances of an individual, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. 

• Temporary accommodation: Temporary accommodation is provided by local housing authorities in England who have a duty to secure accommodation for unintentionally homeless households in priority need (under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996). This duty remains in place until the duty is ended, which is usually because suitable secure accommodation becomes available.  

• Tenant: a person who occupies land or property rented from a landlord. 

• Toolkit: A practical, non-statutory guide to illustrate what good looks like and offer adaptable delivery approaches and effective interventions for specific cohorts. Government will be developing a range of toolkits to support areas to improve their services. 

• Trauma-informed: Trauma-informed practice is an approach to health and care interventions which is grounded in the understanding that trauma exposure can impact an individual’s neurological, biological, psychological and social development. There are 6 principles of trauma-informed practice: safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment and cultural consideration. 

U 

• Universal Credit: This is a payment to help with living costs. It is paid monthly. People may be able to get it if they are on a low income, out of work or they cannot work. 

V 

• Vagrancy Act: The Vagrancy Act, enacted over 200 years ago, made it illegal to sleep rough under certain conditions or beg. Government will formally repeal the Vagrancy Act in England and Wales by Spring next year. 

• Voluntary Sector (or non-profit or Third Sector): This term is used to describe the work of charities and other organisations which are neither private businesses or those carried out by local or national government. The Voluntary Sector includes charities which are commissioned by local authorities to deliver services to address rough sleeping. (See also the Community and Faith sector.) 

W 

• Welfare: See Social security. 

• Wraparound support: This is a holistic, personalised approach to homelessness that addresses a person’s complex needs through a coordinated set of services, including mental health, financial management and housing advice. 

Y 

• Young People: This refers to people aged between 16 to 24.  

• Youth Guarantee: This is support into employment and learning for young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain.