Accredited official statistics

Statutory homelessness in England: financial year 2023-24

Updated 30 October 2024

Applies to England

This is the annual statistics release for statutory homelessness assessments and activities in England between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.The release provides a written narrative of high-level picture of statutory homelessness in England and includes statutory homelessness assessments, and activities under different duties to combat homelessness, and use of temporary accommodation (TA).

We also publish an accompanying infographic which visualises and highlights key points from this release.

1. In this release:

Release date: 3 October 2024

Date of next release: Autumn 2024

Contact:  homelessnessstatistics@communities.gov.uk (Responsible Statistician: Madeha Asim)

Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 / NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk

Initial assessments were made for 358,370 households in England in 2023-24, up 10.4% from the previous year. Of these, 324,990 households were assessed as owed a homelessness duty, due to being threatened with homelessness or already being homeless in 2023-24. This increase from 2022-23 is driven by the increase in both households assessed as being threatened with homelessness, as well as households assessed as already homeless at the time of application.

146,430 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and therefore owed a prevention duty in 2023-24. This is a 3.1% increase from 2022-23. The increase from 2022-23 has been influenced by a 4.6% increase, to 57,340 households, in those threatened with homelessness due to the end of an assured shorthold tenancy. Conversely, there was a 5.2% decrease in households owed a prevention duty due to family or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate.

178,560 households were assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty in 2023-24. This is up 12.3% from 2022-23. Similar to increases in prevention duties, this also has been influenced by an 8.9% increase, to 22,160 households, in those threatened with homelessness due to the end of an assured short hold tenancy. There has also been a 4.8% increase in households owed a relief duty due to family or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate.

Other notable changes in 2023-24 compared to the previous year include:

• Increase in households owed a prevention duty (up 113.9%) or a relief duty (up 251.2%) on being required to leave accommodation provided by the Home Office as asylum support. This makes up 3% of prevention duties owed and 8% of relief duties owed. This increase relates to action to clear the backlog in asylum decisions, with households becoming eligible for homelessness assistance if they are granted refugee status.

• Increase in households owed a prevention duty (up 92.0%) or a relief duty (up 79.2%) due to rent arrears from an increase in rent, although this comprises less than 1% of households owed each type of duty.

2. Introduction

The data used in this release are from the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC) data system. This system is used as a reporting requirement of local authorities to provide data on statutory homelessness for those approaching local authorities for help with homelessness in line with the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA). Our statutory homelessness data covers the different support (called duties) authorities provide to households in different circumstances:

Prevention duty: Local authorities may deliver their prevention duty through any activities aimed at preventing a household threatened with homelessness within 56 days from becoming homeless. This would involve activities to enable an applicant to remain in their current home or finding them alternative accommodation. The duty lasts for up to 56 days but may be extended if the local authority is continuing with efforts to prevent homelessness.

Relief duty: The relief duty is owed to households that are already homeless on approaching a local authority, or are homeless at the end of a prevention duty, and require help to secure settled accommodation.

Main duty: The ‘main’ homelessness duty describes the duty a local authority has towards an applicant who is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance and has priority need.  Households are assessed to see if they are owed a main duty if they did not secure accommodation at the relief stage.

Temporary accommodation: Temporary accommodation is the term used to describe accommodation secured by a local housing authority under their statutory homelessness functions. The majority of households in temporary accommodation have been placed under the main homelessness duty, but temporary accommodation is also provided during the relief stage to households that the local authority has reason to believe may have priority need, or is provided on an interim basis in other circumstances such as pending the outcome of a review on a homelessness decision.

H-CLIC collects detailed data on activities undertaken by local authorities to help prevent or relieve homelessness, and the outcomes of these activities. The statistics reported in this release show total activity over the 2023-24 financial year, except for data on temporary accommodation which is a snapshot on 31 March 2024. Statistics referenced from the accompanying “A” tables on prevention and relief duties owed refer to the initial duties owed on assessment i.e. any references to relief duties owed do not include those who are owed the relief duty following an unsuccessful prevention duty.

2.1 Changes in this release

In 2023-24, we have made a number of changes in our reported data categories to provide a more detailed insight into the circumstances of households approaching for homelessness assistance. These data categories are now reported in our quarterly, and annual datasets, the statutory homelessness England time series, and have led to adaptations in a number of additional annual outputs (e.g. our flows analysis).

These updates include:

• Initial assessments (A1) :  number of household initially assessed now includes cases who  ”Withdrew application before assessment” and those  ”Not eligible / no longer eligible”.

• Reasons for homelessness or threat of homelessness (A2R and A2R): Several previous categories have been broken down including  landlord wishing to sell the property, landlord wishing to re-let the property, domestic abuse victims, alleged perpetrators of domestic abuse, and separate categories for households departing different institution types. An additional category for “Home no longer suitable - disability / ill health” has been introduced and reduced need for other/not known classifications.

• Support needs (A3): We are now reporting Care leavers 21-24 and 25+ separately, previously reported together in one category.

• Accommodation at time of application (A4P and A4R): now includes additional categories for those with No fixed abode, based on whether the households had recently been rough sleeping.

• Employment status (A10): Includes separate categories reporting on main applicants who are registered employed off work due to ill health, and for main applicants on maternity/paternity/adoption leave. An additional category for cases where the main applicant is “Working: irregular hours with variable or irregular pay” has been introduced to reduce need for other/not known classifications.

• Sexual Orientation (A12): now includes a category for “Bisexual” , previously reported under Other.

• Reason a Prevention or Relief duty ended (P1, and R1): Now include categories for separate reporting of cases where the household withdrew application  or the applicant is deceased. 

3. Overview of homelessness in 2023-24

Compared to the previous financial year, 2023-24 largely saw increases in the number of households owed homelessness support by their local authority, increases in the number of households reaching the end of homelessness duties, little change in the number of households securing accommodation from these duties, but a decrease in the proportion of households successfully supported to secure accommodation from these duties.

Figure 1: Number of households initially assessed as owed prevention or relief duties, and households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter since 2019 Q2

In total, 146,430 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and therefore owed a prevention duty in 2023-24, which is a 3.1% increase from 2022-23. This increase from 2022-23 to 2023-24 is seen in both households with children (0.8% increase to 62,200) and households without children owed a prevention duty (4.6% increase to 83,930).

The number of households whose prevention duty ended in 2023-24 was 135,180, an increase of 2.6% compared to the previous year.

The number of prevention duties ending increased 1.6% for households with children, and increased by 3.3% for households without children, compared to 2022-2023.

While the number of households with prevention duties ending has risen, the number of households securing accommodation at this stage has remained stable, meaning there has been a reduction in the proportion of households securing accommodation at this stage. In 2022-23 49.6% of households with children, and 54.8% of households without children, secured accommodation for 6 months or more at the end of their prevention duty. In 2023-24 this was 48.3% for those with children, or 28,700 households, and for households without children this was 53.1%, or 40,230 households. This represents a drop of 1.3 and 1.7 percentage points in the proportion of successful outcomes at the end of prevention duties respectively.

In total 178,560 households were initially assessed as being homeless and therefore owed a relief duty in 2023-24. This is an increase of 12.3% from 2022-23. This increase from 2022-23 to 2023-24 is seen in both households with children (8.3% increase to 47,380) and households without children owed a relief duty (13.7% increase to 130,930).

The number of households whose relief duty ended in 2023-24 was 199,120, an increase of 12.5% compared to the previous year. The number of relief duties ending increased 11.1% for households with children, and increased by 13.3% for households without children compared to 2022-2023.

While the number of households with relief duties ending has risen, the number of households securing accommodation at this stage has remained stable, meaning there has been a reduction in the proportion of households securing accommodation at this stage. In 2022-23 27.9% of households with children, and 39.6% of households without children, secured accommodation for 6 months or more at the end of their relief duty. In 2023-24 this was 25.2%, or 16,600 households with children, and for households without children this was 35.6%, or 47,410 households. This represents a drop of 2.7 and 4.0 percentage points in the proportion of successful outcomes at the end of relief duties respectively.

The number of households reported in temporary accommodation has been increasing since 2021-22, and reached 117,450 on 31 March 2024, higher than at any other point since the data series began in 1998.

4. Households with children

In 2023-24, the number of households with children who were either threatened with homelessness or already homeless increased by 3.9% compared to 2022-23. 62,200 households with children were owed a prevention duty in 2023-24, a 0.8% increase from 2022-23.  47,380 households with children were owed a relief duty in 2023-24, a 8.3% increase from 2022-23.

4.1 Causes and circumstances of homelessness

Tables A2Pc, A2Rc, A4Pc, and A4Rc

The reason for loss of last settled home is a good indication of the cause of homelessness for households assessed as being owed a duty; and current accommodation is used to identify the accommodation types of households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, at the point at which they make an application to a local authority for help.

Figure 2: Proportion of households with children owed a prevention or relief duty, by reason for loss of last settled home

For those owed a prevention duty, the most common reason for the threatened loss of last settled home was due to the end of their private rented assured shorthold tenancy (AST) at 32,860 households or 52.8% of households with children owed a prevention duty. The majority of the households owed a prevention duty due to private rented ASTs ending were due to the landlord wishing to sell or re-let the property at 68.0% (22,350 households), an increase of 2.6% compared to 2022-23.

The most common reason for loss of last settled home for those owed a relief duty was due to domestic abuse at 12,130 or 25.6% of households with children owed a relief duty. This is a 0.5% increase from 2022-23. However, for those owed a prevention duty, domestic abuse as a reason had decreased by 1.8% from 2022-23.

Other notable trends from 2023-24 for those owed a prevention duty include an increase in ASTs ending due to an increase in rents (89.0% higher than 2022-23 – 850 compared to 450 households), and decreases in the following reasons for loss of last settled home: Changes in benefit entitlement (39.5% lower than in 2022-23), Breach of tenancy, not related to rent areas (12.1% lower than 2022-23) and other violence or harassment  (down 26.5% compared to 2022-23).

For households with children owed a relief duty, non-violent relationship breakdown with partner slightly rose (a 3.5% increase from 2022-23), in line  with the number of households with children owed a relief duty increasing from 2022-23.

Figure 3: Proportion of households with children owed a prevention or relief duty, by accommodation at time of application

Reflecting the reasons for the threat of homelessness, the most common accommodation at time of application was in the private rented sector at 38,270 households or 61.5% of households with children owed a prevention duty. This was an increase of 3.1% compared to 2022-23. This increase was driven by those in self-contained accommodation, which makes up 92.8% of those in the private rented sector at the time of application, and increased 3.4% from 2022-23. Households in multiple occupation increased by 4.6% and those lodging (not with family or friends) saw a decrease of 9.5%. An increase of 6.6% to 12,230 households approaching from the private rented sector can be seen for those owed a relief duty.

For those owed either a prevention or relief duty, 50,500 households with children living in the private rented sector at time of application is higher than the 41,610 households with children citing the end of a private rented AST as their reason for threat of loss of last settled home, indicating other reasons for leaving their private sector accommodation, such as family exclusions, domestic abuse, relationship breakdowns etc.

For households with children owed a relief duty, the most common accommodation at time of application is living with family (30.6%) at 14,510 households, up 6.1% from 2022-23. For those owed a prevention duty, 12,480 households with children were living with family, down 3.7% from 2022-23, despite the number of prevention duties owed increasing.

4.2 Support needs

Tables A3c

Support needs: areas of additional needs that mean the household requires support to acquire and sustain accommodation, giving an indication of the additional services local authorities need to provide to prevent an individual becoming homeless or to stop the cycle of repeat homelessness. Local authorities report as many support needs or relevant life experiences that apply to each household.

Figure 4: Proportion of households with children owed a prevention or relief duty, by support need

Figure note: Categories in Figure 4 marked with “*” have been created using multiple related support needs. This means some households may be counted more than once in these categories.

Of the 109,580 households with children owed a prevention or relief duty in 2023-24, 41.9% of households (45,880) had at least one support need, a similar proportion to 2022-23 (41.1%). Of the households who had a support need, most households (57.1%) had one support need, 23.3% had two support needs, and 19.5% had three or more.

The most common support need for households with children in 2023-24 was those with a history of mental health problems, recorded for 17,970 households, or 16.4% of all households with children owed a duty. This is a 5.0% increase in absolute number of households since 2022-23, however this support need still affects a similar proportion of households owed a duty in comparison to the previous year.

Risk of/experience of domestic abuse was also a common support need among households with children, recorded for 16,230 households, or 14.8% of households owed a duty. This is a similar number of households with children with a domestic abuse support need compared to 2022-23 (0.8% increase).

There is a separate annual support needs dashboard which will be updated shortly following this release. This dashboard shows the co-occurrence of difference support needs in different types of households owed homelessness duties.

4.3 Prevention and relief duty outcomes

Tables P1c and R1c

Prevention and Relief duties: The homelessness legislation requires local authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent or relieve a household’s homelessness by helping them to secure accommodation that will be available to them for at least 6 months. These duties usually last for up to 56 days each, although may be extended in some circumstances. The reasons for duties ending indicate the likely outcomes for these applicants.

Figure 5 : Proportion of households with children whose duty ended by outcome

Figure note: the categories in Figure 5 are variables collapsed from tables P1c and R1c. Homeless at the end of the duty includes those intentionally homeless for prevention duties. Other, not related to securing or not securing accommodation includes: Application withdrawn or applicant deceased, contact lost, 56 days elapsed and no further action, local referral accepted by other LA, and no longer eligible. Households where the outcome is not known are not included.

Figure 5 shows the outcomes for the 59,440 prevention duties that ended for households with children in 2023-24, and the outcomes for the 65,920 relief duties ended in the same period.

The number of prevention duties that ended for households with children increased 1.6% from 2022-23, reflecting increases in prevention duties owed. Approximately half of households with children whose prevention duty ended secured accommodation for 6 months or more and were no longer threatened with homelessness (28,700 households or 48.3%). However, in 2022-23, 49.6% of prevention duties for households with children ended in accommodation secured. By comparison this represents a drop of 1.3 percentage points in the proportion of successful outcomes at the end of prevention from 2022-23 to 2023-24, and a drop of 1.1% in the absolute number of households whose prevention duty ended successfully. Of those who secured accommodation 38.5% secured their existing accommodation in 2023-24 – this equates to 11,050 households with children, an increase of 1.3 percentage points from 2022-23.

For 19,760 or 33.2% of households with children whose prevention duty ended in 2023-24, their duty ended because the household became homeless, and were therefore owed a relief duty. This is a 1.4 percentage point increase from 2022-23.

There are several further reasons why a prevention duty may end that do not relate to securing accommodation for 6+ months or the household becoming homeless. 18.5% of prevention duties ended for other reasons, including losing contact, or the application being withdrawn; and 0.7% ended due to the household refusing accommodation or refusing to co-operate.

65,920 households with children had their relief duties end in 2023-24, up 11.1% from 2022-23.

The majority of households with children (41,820 households or 63.4%) had their relief duty end because their homelessness had not been relieved within 56 days and at this point the local authority would need to assess whether a main duty is owed to them. Less than a third (16,600 or 25.2%) of households with children owed a relief duty had accommodation secured for at least 6 months. However, in 2022-23, 27.9% of relief duties for households with children ended in accommodation secured. By comparison this represents a drop of 2.7 percentage points in the proportion of successful outcomes at the end of prevention from 2022-23 to 2023-24, but a slight increase of 0.2% in the absolute number of households with whose relief duty ended successfully

11.4% of households with children had their relief duty end for reasons not related to failing to secure or securing accommodation for at least 6 months, and 1.8% ended due to the household refusing accommodation, refusing to co-operate, or becoming intentionally homeless from accommodation provided under the duty.

4.4 Type of accommodation secured

Tables P2c and R2c

Figure 6: Proportion of households with children who secured accommodation by type

28,700 households with children whose prevention duty ended were able to secure accommodation for 6 months or more. Of these, the most common accommodation secured was self-contained accommodation in the private rented sector (50.2%).

For those whose relief duty ended, 16,600 households with children secured accommodation for 6 months or more. Of these, the most common accommodation secured was either registered provider tenancy in the social rented sector (32.2%) or self-contained accommodation in the private rented sector (30.1%).

5. Single households

Single households: A term used for households without children, which will include couples and households with two or more adults.

Single adult households: Single adult households are a subset of single households, where the household comprises just one individual adult.

In 2023-24, the number of single households who were either threatened with homelessness or already homeless increased by 9.9% compared to 2022-23. 83,930 single households were owed a prevention duty in 2023-24, a 4.6% increase from 2022-23. However, 130,930 single households were owed a relief duty in 2023-24, a 13.7% increase from 2022-23.

5.1 Causes and circumstances of homelessness

Tables A2Ps, A2Rs, A4Ps, and A4Rs

Figure 7: Proportion of single households owed a prevention or relief duty, by reason for loss of last settled home

In 2023-24, the loss of last settled home due to end of assured short hold tenancy was the most common reason for single households being owed a prevention duty. The number of single households citing the end of private rented AST increased by 5.6% to 24,470 for those owed a prevention duty, and increased by 37.1% to 13,410 for those owed a relief duty.

In 2023-24, the loss of last settled home due to family or friends no longer able to accommodate was the most common reason for single households being owed a relief duty, and second most common for single households owed a prevention duty. This accounted for 23,320 households or 27.8% of single households owed a prevention duty, which is a 4.3% decrease from 2022-23. For single households owed a relief duty, this accounted for 40,950 households or 31.3%, a 4.7% increase from 2022-23.

Most categories of reasons for homelessness or threat of homelessness had increased since 2022-23, reflecting the increases seen in households owed prevention and relief duties over this period. There were with particularly large increases in:

• households owed a duty due to being required to leave accommodation provided by the Home Office as asylum support, up 147.8% to 3,420 households

• households owed a prevention duty due to rent arrears due to an increase in rent, up 96.7% to 590 households

Increases were not seen in all reasons for threat of homelessness. For prevention duties there were decreases in the number of households threatened with homelessness due to:

• Non-violent relationship breakdown with partner, down 9.9% to 3,630 households

• Other violence or harassment, down 18.0% to 1,140 households

• Total end of social rented tenancy, down 4.8% to 5,010 households

• Other reasons or not known, down 17.9% to 3,710 households

For relief duties there were decreases in the number of households who were homeless due to:

• End of non-AST private rented tenancy, down 4.7% to 4,470 households

• Other violence or harassment, down 12.1% to 3,910 households

Figure 8: Proportion of single households owed a prevention or relief duty, by accommodation at time of application

In 2023-24, for applicants owed a prevention duty, the most common accommodation type at the time of application for single households was in the private rented sector at 29,730 households or 35.4% of single households owed a prevention duty, up 6.8% from 2022-23.

The number of single households owed a prevention duty approaching from living with family decreased by 0.8% to 21,610. For those living with friends, this figure decreased by 6.5% to 8,900.

The most common accommodation type at the time of application for single households owed a relief duty was ‘living with family’. This accounted for 20.8% or 27,270 households, an increase of 7.3% for this type.

Rough sleeping: People sleeping in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments), or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or “bashes” which are makeshift shelters, often comprised of cardboard boxes). These individuals in this publication may have slept rough one night or across several nights.

Rough sleeping at the time of Local Authority Approach: This group are defined as those who were, in the judgement of the assessor, rough sleeping when they approached a local authority for help.

History of Rough Sleeping: This is a support need based on a history of sleeping rough and does not mean that the household was sleeping rough at the time of approach to the local authority.

No fixed abode: The applicant has no accommodation that they have the legal right to occupy, and may be staying temporarily at more than one address, but is not  currently sleeping rough. Households currently with no fixed abode have sometimes had experiences sleeping rough, recently, or in the past. This is covered in more detail in our data tables.

The number of single households assessed as rough sleeping at the time of approach has increased by 14.2% since 2022-23, to 16,680 households in 2023-24. The number of households owed a prevention or relief duty approaching from no fixed abode has decreased 3.8%.

5.2 Support needs

Table A3s

Figure 9: Proportion of single households owed a prevention or relief duty, by support need

Figure note: Categories in Figure 9 marked with “*” have been created using multiple related support needs. This means some households may be counted more than once in these categories.

Of the 214,860 single households owed a prevention or relief duty in 2023-24, 60.6% or 130,220 households had at least one support need, compared with 59.8% in 2022-23.

Among single households who had a support need, 41.1% had one support need, 23.7% had 2 support needs, and 35.1% had 3 or more. This is in contrast to households with children, where the majority of those with support needs, had only one support need (57.1%).

The most common support need for single households was a history of mental health problems. This equates to 67,780 households or 35.1% of single households assessed as owed a duty.  The number of households with this support need has risen 8.2% since 2022-23, however this support need group continues to represent a similar proportion of all single households owed a duty (0.5 percentage point decrease).

For a consecutive year, households with a former asylum seeker support need saw the largest increase from 2022-23, up 156.9% to 8,400 households in 2023-24. Despite this increase, these households only represent 3.9% of single households owed a prevention or relief duty in 2023-24.

5.3 Prevention and relief duty outcomes

Tables P1s and R1s

Figure 10: Proportion of single households whose duty ended by outcome

Figure note: the categories in Figure 10 are variables collapsed from tables P1s and R1s. Homeless at the end of the duty includes those intentionally homeless for prevention duties. Other, not related to securing or not securing accommodation includes: Application withdrawn or applicant deceased, contact lost, 56 days elapsed and no further action, local referral accepted by other LA, and no longer eligible. Households where the outcome is not known are not included.

The figure above shows the outcomes for the 75,740 prevention duties that ended for single households in 2023-24, and the outcomes for the 133,190 relief duties ended in the same period.

The number of prevention duties that ended for single households increased slightly (3.3%) from 2022-23, and in line with the small increase in prevention duties owed to single households (4.6%) over the year.

The majority of single households whose prevention duty ended (40,230 households or 53.1%) secured accommodation for 6 months or more and were no longer threatened with homelessness. This is a similar number of households securing accommodation to last year (40,150 in 2022-23), however due to the overall increase in prevention duties ending this is a lower proportion (down 1.7 percentage points).

Of those securing accommodation, over two-thirds (68.3%) secured alternative accommodation, while the remaining 31.7% were able to remain in their exiting accommodation as a result of the prevention duty.

For 15,610 or 20.6% of single households, the prevention duty ended because the household became homeless, and was therefore owed a relief duty. There are several further reasons why a prevention duty may end that do not relate to securing accommodation for 6+ months or the household becoming homeless. 26.3% of prevention duties ended for other reasons, such as losing contact, or the application being withdrawn, and 1.1% ended due to the household refusing accommodation or refusing to co-operate.

133,190 single households had their relief duties end in 2023-24, an increase of 13.3% from 2022-23.The most common reason for relief duties ending in 2023-24 was due to households’ homelessness not being relieved within 56 days at 55,450 or 41.6%. At this point, the local authority would need to assess whether a main duty is owed to them.

In 2023-24, 47,410 (35.6%) single households had their relief duty end because they secured accommodation for 6 months or more. The proportion of single households securing accommodation at the end of the relief duty has dropped by 4.0 percentage points since 2022-23. 22.8% of households’ relief duty ended for reasons not related to failing to secure or securing accommodation for at least 6 months, and 2.3% ended due to the household refusing accommodation, refusing to co-operate, or becoming intentionally homeless from accommodation provided.

5.4 Type of accommodation secured

Tables P2s and R2s

Figure 11: Proportion of single households who secured accommodation by type

In 2023-24, 40,230 single households whose prevention duty ended were able to secure accommodation for 6 months or more, up 0.2% from 2022-23 This means a slightly larger number of single households had their homelessness prevented in 2023-24 than in 2022-23. Despite this, the proportion of single households whose homelessness was successfully prevented fell, due to the larger number of duties ending.

Of these, the most common type of accommodation secured was self-contained in the social rented sector at 46.7% of single households. This was a decrease from 2022-23 of 3.0% to 18,780 households. By contrast, the number single households securing accommodation in the private rented sector overall increased 8.2% from 2022-23 to 14,220 households.

To note, there were also decreases in the number of households securing the following types of accommodation:

• Staying with family, down 1.2% to 3,390 households

• Staying with friends, down 5.9% to 1,270 households

For single households whose relief duty ended, 47,410 households secured accommodation for 6 months or more, up 1.9% from 2022-23, reflecting the increase in relief duties ending overall. Of these, the most common type of accommodation secured was in supported housing or hostel in the social rented sector at 35.0% of single households; this equates to 16,610 households. Alongside the number of relief duties ending in secured accommodation increasing, the number of single households securing accommodation in the social rented sector overall had increased by 0.8% to 27,600 households in 2023-24. This was due to increases in the number of households securing accommodation in the following types of social rented sector accommodation:

• a 5.3% increase in households securing a council tenancy, to 4,350 households

• a 6.6% increase in households securing a registered provider tenancy, to 6,640 households

During the relief stage, the number of single households securing accommodation in  private rented sector also rose by 9.2% overall. This is due to increases in the number of households securing accommodation across all of the different types of private sector accommodation, of which:

• a 0.8% increase in households securing self-contained private sector accommodation, to 7,410 households

• a 23.0% increase in those securing accommodation ins houses of multiple occupation to 5,300 households

• a 15.4% increase in households securing accommodation as lodgers (not with family or friends), to 450 households

There were some accommodation outcomes from relief duties that saw decreases this year:

• a 2.4% decrease in households securing supported housing or hostel accommodation to 16,610 households

•  the number of single households securing accommodation with friends or with family fell 9.5% to 2,760 households

There were also decreases in single households recorded as securing other types of accommodation, or those whose type of accommodation secured was not known. The is likely due to improvements in data quality.

6. Additional demographics

This section concerns the demographics of the lead applicant of a household and applies to all households owed a prevention or relief duty. The lead applicant is the person who makes the homeless application on behalf of the household, which can be one or more people.

6.1 Ethnicity

Table A8

Table 1: Ethnicity breakdowns for lead applicants of households owed a prevention or relief duty (number and percentage of households) in 2023-24, with comparison to population ethnicity estimates (in percentages)

	England		London		Rest of England
Ethnicity	Owed a duty	Population %	Owed a duty	Population %	Owed a duty	Population %
Asian, or Asian British	24,260 (7.5%)	9.60%	8,920 (13.6%)	20.70%	15,350 (5.9%)	7.60%
Black, Black British, Caribbean or African	35,950 (11.1%)	4.20%	18,720 (28.6%)	13.50%	17,230 (6.6%)	2.50%
Mixed / Multiple Ethnic Groups	11,430 (3.5%)	3.00%	4,380 (6.7%)	5.70%	7,060 (2.7%)	2.40%
White	203,760 (62.7%)	81.00%	18,450 (28.2%)	53.80%	185,310 (71.4%)	86.10%
Other	18,560 (5.7%)	2.20%	6,800 (10.4%)	6.30%	11,760 (4.5%)	1.40%
Not known	31,020 (9.5%)	0.00%	8,080 (12.4%)	0.00%	22,940 (8.8%)	0.00%
Total	324,990 (100.0%)	100.00%	65,350 (100.0%)	100.00%	259,640 (100.0%)	100.00%

Table note:

• Population estimates used in this release are reproduced with reference to Census 2021 data. See section 4. How ethnic composition varied across England and Wales.

• ‘Not known’ represents a high number of homelessness duties owed and could mask some of the proportions of the household ethnicities owed homelessness duties.

• Household ethnicity is set at main applicant level and the proportion of the population is calculated on an individual level. From these data it is unclear whether there is more than one person in the household and if people that identify as a particular ethnicity are more likely to live in larger households than others.

During 2023-24, 62.7% of homeless households had a White lead applicant. 81.0% of individuals in England are White according to ONS population estimates, suggesting White households are underrepresented in the those owed a homelessness duty. Households with an Asian/Asian British lead applicant are also underrepresented as they account for 7.5% of those owed a homelessness duty, and Asian/Asian British individuals account for 9.6% of the population in England. Conversely, households with a Black, Black British, Caribbean or African lead applicant are likely to be overrepresented as they account for 11.1% of those owed a homelessness duty, and Black, Black British, Caribbean or African individuals account for 4.2% of the population in England.

The population distribution of people by ethnicity across England is not even and this can complicate the homeless ethnicity picture, especially when looking at the data from London. Households in London account for 20.1% of homelessness, but the ethnicities of lead applicants in London differ in contrast to those in the rest of England (see table above).

6.2 Age

Table A6

Figure 12: Proportion of households by age of lead applicant

In 2023-24, the most common age group of lead applicants in households owed a prevention or relief duty was those aged between 25 and 34 years old, making up 95,380 households or 29.3% of the total. The number of households with a lead applicant aged 18 or over increased from 2022-23, while the age group 16-17 saw a decrease of 9.4% to 2,130. The largest age groups to increase were those aged 65-74, increasing 11.8% to 10,200 households; those aged 55-64, increasing 11.4% to 26,380; and those aged 75+, increasing 10.3% to 3,740 households. The number of households where the age of the main applicant is not known has also seen a large increase since 2022-23 of 147.8% to 570 households in this period.

For all groups with a lead applicant aged 25 or over the absolute numbers are the highest they have been since these statistics began recording in their current form in 2018-19. For households with a lead applicant 16-17 years old, these figures have fallen 9.4% to 2,130 households since 2022-23. Households with an 18-24 year old lead applicant has now risen, with a 6.4% increase in this period to 56,740 households.

6.3 Employment status

Table A10

Figure 13: Proportion of households by employment status of lead applicant

The most common employment status for lead applicants of households owed a prevention or relief duty was registered unemployed, accounting for 113,510 or 34.9% of households in 2023-24, an increase (11.5%) since 2022-23.

The second largest category was households where the lead applicant is not working due to long term illness/disability, accounting for 45,460 or 14.0% of households. There was a similar number of households where the lead applicant was in full time work, accounting for 44,180 households or 13.6% of households owed a duty.

There has been decreases in the number of households where the employment status is other (56.7%) or not known (4.4%), driven by the introduction of new categories of registered employed off work and working irregular hours.

7. Main duty

Tables MD1 and MD3

Main Duty: The ‘main’ homelessness duty describes the duty a local authority has towards an applicant who is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance and has priority need . These households are only owed a main duty if they did not secure accommodation in the prevention or relief stage, and so it is not owed to those ‘threatened with homelessness’. In addition a minimum of 56 days of assistance must have elapsed from a household being accepted as owed a relief duty, and being owed a main duty.

Eligibility and priority need are further defined in the technical note.

Figure 14: Number of households assessed against a main duty decision, by outcome

Local authorities made 94,280 main homelessness duty decisions in 2023-24, up 25.1% from 2022-23. Of these, 68.9% (or 64,960 households) were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty in 2023-24. This represents a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared to the proportion of main duties which were accepted in 2022-23.

In relation to other main duty decisions:

• 4.2% (3,970 households) were homeless and with priority need but considered to be intentionally homeless. This represents a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared to the proportion in 2022-23.

• 25.7% (24,270 households) were homeless but with no priority need. This represents a increase of 3.1 percentage points compared to the previous year.

• 1.1% (1,080 households) were found to be not homeless at main duty decision. This represents a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to the proportion in 2022-23.

8. Temporary accommodation

Table TA1

Temporary Accommodation: Temporary Accommodation is the term used to describe accommodation secured by a local housing authority under their statutory homelessness functions. The majority of households in temporary accommodation have been placed under the main homelessness duty, but temporary accommodation is also provided during the relief stage to households who the LA has reason to believe may have priority need, or on interim basis in other circumstances such as pending the outcome of a review on a homelessness decision. 

Figure 15: Number of households in temporary accommodation since Q2 2019, by household type

On 31 March 2024, 117,450 households were in temporary accommodation, an increase of 12.3% from the same period last year.

Households with children in temporary accommodation increased by 14.7% to 74,530, while single households increased by 8.5% to 42,920.

Map 1: Households with children in temporary accommodation per 1000 households, by local authority in England

Map 2: Single households in temporary accommodation per 1000 households, by local authority in England

Map Notes: The maps above illustrate the regional differences between rates of households with children in temporary accommodation compared to single households in temporary accommodation. These show there is a higher concentration of households with children in areas such as London, Birmingham and Manchester. In contrast, the maps show that single households are more spread out across England.

8.1 Type of temporary accommodation

Bed and breakfast accommodation: Privately managed temporary accommodation where households lack or share essential facilities such as kitchens and/or bathrooms.  Meals may or may not be provided.

This differs from other types of temporary accommodation where the household has sole use of kitchen and bathroom facilities, which could be in properties held by local housing authorities, registered social landlords or private sector landlords.

Figure 16: Type of accommodation for households in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2024, by region and household type

For additional details of different types of temporary accommodation please see the accompanying detailed local authority level tables. Further information on accessing other documentation, including our specification and guidance documents for full definitions, can be found on our H-CLIC forum page.

In London, households with children in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in nightly paid self-contained accommodation (35.0% or 15,420 households), or private sector accommodation (32.8% or 14,440 households). By contrast, in the rest of England, households with children in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in local authority or housing association provided accommodation (35.1% or 10,700 households).

In London, single households in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in nightly paid self-contained accommodation (32.7% or 6,940 households), or private sector accommodation (23.3% or 4,940 households). In contrast, in the rest of England, single households in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in bed and breakfast accommodation (37.5% or 8,140 households), or local authority or housing association provided accommodation (23.8% or 5,170 households).

8.2 Length of time in temporary accommodation

Tables TA4, TA4c, and TA4s

Figure 17: Type of accommodation for households in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2024, by length of stay and household type

The most common length of time for households with children to be in temporary accommodation was less than 6 months, representing 17,430 (23.4%) of households with children. Of these households, 36.8% were in nightly paid self-contained accommodation.

This was followed by 16,690 households with children in temporary accommodation for 2-5 years, representing over a fifth (22.8%) of households with children. Of these 34.7% were placed in private sector accommodation leased by the local authority or registered provider accommodation, and 28.4% were in local authority/housing association accommodation.

Another fifth (16,790 or 22.5%) of households with children in temporary accommodation had been there for 5 years or more. Around half (49.5%) of these were in private sector accommodation. A similar proportion of these households were also in Local authority or housing association accommodation stock (20.4%) or in Nightly paid self contained, privately managed accommodation (21.4%).

The most common length of time for households without children to stay in temporary accommodation was less than 6 months, representing 16,750 or 39.0% of single households in temporary accommodation; and of these, 46.7% were in bed and breakfast accommodation

8.3 Ethnicity of lead applicant for households in temporary accommodation

Table TA6

Figure 18: Households in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2024, by ethnicity of lead applicant

In England, the most common ethnic group for lead applicants in temporary accommodation is White, accounting for 42,790 or 36.4% of households in temporary accommodation. However, this group is underrepresented compared to the proportion of individuals in England’s population. By contrast, households in temporary accommodation where the main applicant is Black, Black British, Caribbean or African; from another ethnic group; or where ethnicity is not known are overrepresented by comparison to England’s population. More detailed information on this in the table below.

Table 2: Ethnicity breakdowns for lead applicants of households in temporary accommodation (number and percentage of households) with comparison to population ethnicity estimates (in percentages)

	England		London		Rest of England
Ethnicity	HHs in TA	Population %	HHs in TA	Population %	HHs in TA	Population %
Asian, or Asian British	12.4%	9.60%	14.3%	20.70%	9.9%	7.60%
Black, Black British, Caribbean or African	20.7%	4.20%	27.3%	13.50%	12.4%	2.50%
Mixed / Multiple ethnic groups	4.0%	3.00%	4.6%	5.70%	3.3%	2.40%
White	36.4%	81.00%	20.6%	53.80%	56.3%	86.10%
Other	7.2%	2.20%	7.5%	6.30%	6.7%	1.40%
Not known	19.3%		25.7%		11.4%
Total		100.00%		100.00%		100.00%

Table note:

• HHs in TA = Households in Temporary Accommodation

• Population estimates used in this release are reproduced with reference to Census 2021 data. See section 4. How ethnic composition varied across England and Wales.

• ‘Not known’ represents a high number of homelessness duties owed and could mask some of the proportions of the household ethnicities owed homelessness duties.

• Household ethnicity is set at main applicant level and the proportion of the population is calculated on an individual level. From these data it is unclear whether there is more than one person in the household and if people that identify as a particular ethnicity are more likely to live in larger households than others.

8.4 Age of lead applicant for households in temporary accommodation

Table TA5

Figure 19: Households in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2024, by age of lead applicant

In England, the most common age for lead applicants in temporary accommodation was 35-44, accounting for 37,250 or 31.7% of households in temporary accommodation on 31st March 2024.

A further 27.5%, or 32,310 households, had a lead applicant aged 25-34; and 19.9% or 23,930 had a lead applicant aged 45-54.

Very few households in temporary accommodation (less than 5%) had lead applicants who were aged 16-17 (80 or 0.1%), 65-74 (2,560 or 2.2%), 75 and over (870 or 0.7%). There were no households where the age of the main applicant was not known.

Comparing households in temporary accommodation in London with those in the rest of England, households where the lead applicant was aged 35-44 were most common and accounted for a similar proportion in London (32.0%) compared to the rest of England (31.4%). However, households with lead applicants aged 45 and above represented a higher proportion of the households in temporary accommodation in London (34.8%), compared to those in the rest of England (26.2%). Conversely, households with a lead applicant aged 34 and under represented a higher proportion of the households in temporary accommodation in the rest of England (42.4%), compared to in London (33.2%).

9. Flows analysis of households owed a duty between April 2021 and March 2022

Tables F1, F2, and F3 and in the dedicated flows dashboard

This section explores the flow of households through homelessness duties and their outcomes. It concerns cases initially assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty between April 2022 and March 2023, and whose case closed or received a main duty decision as of March 2024.

The flows do not indicate the length of time taken for each case, as this varies with some lasting a day and others the full two-year period.

More information on the annual flows analysis available in the technical note.

9.1 All households homelessness flow

Table F1

There are a range of journeys and outcomes for households flowing through the homelessness duties. To ensure the flows are comprehensible, certain outcomes that are usually separate have been grouped together; for example, prevention and relief duties ending for Other reasons, and accommodation outcomes. Please see the flows tables, F1-3, for more information on how these fields have been grouped.

Overall, 265,830 households received homelessness assistance in 2022-23 and were included in our flows analysis. Of these households, 47.6% secured accommodation for 6+ months, 23.6% left the system for Other reasons, 21.0% were owed a main duty, and 7.9% were homeless and not owed a main duty following relief.

Figure 20: Flow of all households

Figure Note: The size of each ‘flow’ in this diagram is proportional to the number of homelessness cases taking that particular route through the system. Each coloured box indicates a stage in a homelessness duty or outcome, and their size is proportional to the number of households reaching that stage. The system has two entry points: households threatened with homelessness and owed a Prevention duty (the leftmost box), and households initially homeless and owed a Relief duty (note that this box also includes where some cases have flowed from Prevention). Succeeding diagrams are subsets, and their comparative size do not indicate a similarity in the number of households to this overall flow.

Table 3: Outcomes of the homelessness duties owed to all households first owed a prevention or relief duty in 2022-23

	Total initially owed duty	Prevention duty	Relief Duty
	Households	% of total	Households	% of prevention duties	Households	% of relief duties
Total assessed as owed a duty	265,830	100.0%	125,740	100.0%	170,250	100.0%
Total secured accommodation at duty end	126,460	47.6%	66,290	52.7%	60,170	35.3%
Duty ended for Other reasons	62,800	23.6%	29,290	23.3%	33,510	19.7%
Homeless at duty end	106,740	40.2%	30,160	24.0%	76,580	45.0%
Homeless after relief - owed main duty	55,710	21.0%	-	-	55,710	32.7%
Homeless after relief - not owed a main duty	20,870	7.9%	-	-	20,870	12.3%

Table Note Relief duties in this table refer to all relief duties owed, including those owed after a prevention duty. Figures may not sum to 100%.

On initial approach, the proportion of households who were threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty was lower (47.3%) compared to those already homeless and owed a relief duty (52.7%) in 2022-23. This was also the case in 2021-22. The number of relief duties owed rises further when taking into account all relief duties owed during the period, including those following prevention, as shown in the table above. 30,106 prevention duties (24.0%) failed to prevent homelessness and consequently moved on to a relief duty, in addition to the 140,090 households initially owed a relief duty.

Over half of prevention duties ended with accommodation secured (52.7%), a larger proportion than relief duties ending with an accommodation secured outcome (43.0%). This is expected since the preventative interventions required to keep existing accommodation are often more straightforward than finding and securing new accommodation for an already homeless household.

Private rented sector tenancies were the most common outcome following successful duties (34.0%), followed by Council or registered Provider tenancies (30.7%).

Private rented sector tenancies made up 40.0% of those securing accommodation via prevention duties, compared to relief duties (27.4%) and could be a result of many preventions involving the retention of an existing tenancy. For households securing accommodation at the end of the prevention duty, council and registered provider tenancies also represented a substantial proportion of outcomes (31.8%).

For households securing accommodation at the end of relief duty, council and registered provider tenancies (29.5%) and social rented supported housing or hostel accommodation (28.4%) and private rented tenancies (27.4%) were common outcomes. Supported housing or hostel accommodation secured outcomes were more likely following relief compared to prevention. This is indicative of the predominantly single adult homeless households requiring specific support or emergency accommodation more often than those threatened with homelessness. More information about these differences is provided in the single households and households with children flows sections.

Table 4: Accommodation secured for all households following prevention or relief duties owed in 2022-23, showing number of households and percentage of outcome secured by duty type

	Prevention duty	Relief duty
Private rented sector	26,530	40.0%	16,500	27.4%
Council or Registered Provider tenancy	21,110	31.8%	17,750	29.5%
Social rented supported housing or hostel	7,450	11.2%	17,070	28.4%
Staying with family or friends	7,000	10.6%	3,700	6.1%
Other / not reported	4,210	6.4%	5,150	8.6%
Total	66,290	100.00%	60,170	100.00%

‘Other / not reported’ accommodation outcomes consists of where local authorities have stated ‘Other’ or have not been able to provide the specific accommodation outcome, and was reported more regularly for relief outcomes (8.6%) than prevention outcomes (6.4%). Overuse of ‘Other / not known’ as a type of accommodation secured is a data quality issue, and we are working with local authorities to improve reporting of accommodation outcomes.

62,800 prevention and relief duties ended for Other reasons, amounting to roughly one quarter of total outcomes (23.6%). These are outcomes where the household has neither secured accommodation nor been found homeless after 56 days, and includes: Contact lost, withdrawn application / applicant deceased, preventions not requiring further action after 56 days, and refusal of suitable accommodation.

Under half of relief duties (45.0%) ended with the household still homeless and therefore due a main duty decision. Of these, 55,710 households (72.7%) were assessed as unintentionally homeless with a priority need and owed a main homelessness duty.

The remaining 20,870 (27.3%) were not owed a main duty following unsuccessful attempts to relieve the households’ homelessness after a minimum of 56 days. 16,550 households were not owed a main duty because they were homeless but had no priority need, 2,700 had priority need but were considered intentionally homeless and a further 1,620 were not owed a main duty for other reasons. Other reasons include not homeless, not eligible, contact lost and application withdrawn.

9.2 Homelessness flows for key sub-groups of households

Table F1

The flow of cases through homelessness duties can differ depending on the circumstances and composition of applicant households. This section shows how the flows compared for key sub-groups entering the system in 2022-23, these include:

• Households with children

• Single households

• Households rough sleeping at the time of application

• Households on departure from custody

• Households required to leave accommodation provided by the Home Office as asylum support

The households with children and single households cohorts are mutually exclusive. However, there may be overlap between other groups as they are based on current accommodation (households rough sleeping), and reasons for homelessness (departure from custody, required to leave Home Office asylum support accommodation). The majority of households rough sleeping at the time of application, and those on departure from custody are made up of single households.

The F1 flows table and our flows dashboard also provides figures on additional groups (e.g. households with domestic abuse listed as their reason for loss of last settled accommodation) which are not covered in the narrative of this release.

In terms of approaches, households with children were more likely to approach at prevention (57.9%), while single households are more likely to approach at relief (58.7%). Applications of households in the other groups were also more likely at relief, rather than at prevention stage. Those rough sleeping at the time of application solely approached at relief as they are already homeless.

Single households were the most likely to secure accommodation for 6 months or more at 48.8% of those who were assessed in 2022-23. This is followed by households owed a duty after being required to leave accommodation provided as asylum support (47.4%), and households with children (45.3%). Of the groups described in the narrative of this release, households rough sleeping on approach (39.9%) and those on departure from custody (39.1%) were the least likely to secure accommodation through prevention or relief duties.

Of those who secured accommodation, households with children were most likely to secure accommodation in the private rented sector (43.1%) compared to other accommodation outcomes. Those sleeping rough were most likely to secure accommodation in supported housing or hostels (50.4%), similar to those on departure from custody (48.1%).

Single households, had accommodation outcomes more evenly distributed between the private rented sector (29.3%), council or registered provider tenancies (26.2%), and social rented supported housing or hostels (27.5%). This was also the case for households required to leave accommodation provided as asylum support (29.5%, 22.3%, 29.9% respectively).

Households with children homelessness flow

36.2% of cases initially owed duties in 2022-23 were households containing children, this equates to 96,300 households in 2022-23, up 20.3% from 2021-22.

Of the 96,300 households with children who received homelessness assistance in 2022-23:

• 45.3% secured accommodation for 6+ months (compared to 47.6% of all households)

• 17.6% left the system for Other reasons (versus 23.6% overall)

• 34.9% were owed a main duty (versus 21.0% overall)

• 2.2% were homeless and not owed a main duty following relief (versus 7.9% overall).

Figure 21: Flow of households with children

Households with children securing accommodation at the end of prevention duty were most likely to secure accommodation in the private rented sector (49.6%). While those with successful outcomes at the relief stage were most likely to secure a council or registered provider tenancy (48.4%). This difference is in part due to private rented tenancies being easier to retain, through early intervention, than to secure new tenancies for families in the sector.

Table 5: Accommodation secured for households with children following prevention or relief duties owed in 2022-23, showing number of households and percentage of outcome secured by duty type

	Prevention duty	Relief duty
Private rented sector	13,740	49.6%	5,060	31.76%
Council or Registered Provider tenancy	9,480	34.2%	7,710	48.40%
Social rented supported housing or hostel	770	2.78%	960	6.03%
Staying with family or friends	2,370	8.5%	830	5.21%
Other / not reported	1,380	5.0%	1,370	8.60%
Total	27,720	100.00%	15,930	100.00%

While successful accommodation outcomes following prevention were comparable with the overall cohort flow, prevention duties ending for Other reasons were slightly lower for households with children (17.6%) than overall (23.6%). This suggests households with children were less likely to leave the system due to losing contact or withdrawing an application than those without children. A higher proportion of households with children were homeless at the end of the prevention duty and consequently moved on to relief duties at 31.9%, compared to 24.0% overall.

61.2% of households with children who had been owed a relief duty, either initially or after an unsuccessful prevention duty, were still homeless at the end of the relief duty. This is substantially higher than 45.0% of households overall. This difference could be partly linked to the lower proportion of family households leaving the system for Other reasons. These households are also very likely to be owed a main duty, since having dependent children is a priority need. Accordingly, 94.1% of households with children that were homeless at the end of relief were assessed as unintentionally homeless and priority need and therefore owed a main homelessness duty.

2,100 households with children were homeless at the end of relief and not owed a main duty, of which 1,150 households were intentionally homeless. 410 households were found to have no priority need (such as when dependent children have left the household by the decision stage) and 540 households were not owed a main duty for other reasons.

Single households homelessness flow

63.6% or, 168,970,  of households owed a homelessness duty in 2022-23 did not contain children (referred to as ‘single households’), up 3.8% from 2021-22.

Of the 168,970 single households who received homelessness assistance in 2022-23:

• 48.8% secured accommodation for 6+ months (similar to 47.6% of all households)

• 27.0% left the system for Other reasons (versus 23.6% overall)

• 13.1% were owed a main duty (versus 21.0% overall)

• 11.1% were homeless and not owed a duty following relief (versus 7.9% overall).

Single households were more likely to be already homeless on approach – 58.7% were owed initial relief duties compared to 52.7% of households overall.

Figure 22: Flow of single households

Compared to households overall, accommodation outcomes for single households were more evenly spread among the different accommodation types. Out of the 82,500 single households securing accommodation at prevention or relief duty end:

• 29.3% secured private sector accommodation (compared to 34.0% of households overall)

• 26.2% secured a council or registered provider tenancy (compared to 30.7% overall)

• 27.5% secured accommodation in social rented supported housing or hostel (compared to 19.4% overall)

• 9.1% were able to stay with family or friends (compared to 8.5% overall)

• 7.9% had an other or not reported accommodation outcome (compared to 7.4% overall)

Table 6: Accommodation secured for single households following prevention or relief duties owed in 2022-23, showing number of households and percentage of outcome secured by duty type

	Prevention duty	Relief duty
Private rented sector	12,750	33.1%	11,410	25.9%
Council or Registered Provider tenancy	11,630	30.2%	10,020	22.8%
Social rented supported housing or hostel	6,650	17.3%	16,050	36.5%
Staying with family or friends	4,610	12.0%	2,860	6.5%
Other / not reported	2,830	7.4%	3,680	8.4%
Total	38,470	100.00%	44,030	100.00%

While prevention duties for single households were less likely to end with homelessness than for households overall (17.7% versus 24.0%), a correspondingly greater proportion ended for Other reasons (27.2% versus 23.3%). This was also true of relief duties, with 23.9% ending for Other reasons compared to 19.7% for households overall.

The prevalence of Other outcomes among single households suggests a relative difficulty in maintaining their applications. As can be seen in tables P1 and R1, many outcomes other than accommodation or homelessness involve contact being lost, withdrawn applications, and preventions ending with no further action.

Just under half (45.9%) of single households still homeless after relief were not owed a main duty, in contrast to the small minority of households with children (5.9%). Most households without children will not have priority need, and so will not be owed the main duty if their homelessness is not relieved. Potential priority needs for single households include; pregnancy, domestic abuse, vulnerability as a result of mental health problems, physical disability / ill health, and leaving care. More information on priority need can be found in table MD3.

Flow of households rough sleeping on approach

4.8%  of households were rough sleeping at the time of application in 2022-23. Since those sleeping rough are by definition homeless, all were initially owed a relief duty.

12,830 households sleeping rough at the time of application were owed a relief duty in 2022-23, up 31.9% from 2021-22. Of these households:

• 39.9% secured accommodation for 6+ months (compared to 47.6% of all households). Of these, supported housing or hostel was the most common accommodation outcome (50.4%).

• 28.6% left the system for Other reasons (versus 23.6% overall)

• 11.8% were owed a main duty (versus 21.0% overall)

• 19.7% were homeless and not owed a main duty following relief (versus 7.9% overall)

Figure 23: Flow of households rough sleeping on approach

37.4% of those rough sleeping on approach, who were homeless at the end of relief duty, were owed a main duty.

Homelessness flows for households who were homeless, or threatened with homelessness, on departure from custody

3.1% of households were homeless, or threatened with homelessness, on departure from custody, equating to 8,130 households in 2022-23. Of these households:

• 39.1% secured accommodation for 6+ months (compared to 47.6% of all households)

• 38.9% left the system for Other reasons (versus 23.6% overall)

• 8.5% were owed a main duty (versus 21.0% overall)

• 13.7% were homeless and not owed a duty following relief (versus 7.9% overall)

Figure 24: Flow of households homeless, or threatened with homelessness, on departure from custody

Over two thirds (67.3%) were homeless on initial approach and owed a relief duty, suggesting that the threat of homelessness was not identified, or referrals were not made or accepted early enough for a prevention duty to be accepted. However, this proportion is lower, compared to 2021-22 (69.9%) indicating some improvements in cases being picked up earlier while prevention is still possible. The remaining 32.7% of households departing from custody were initially owed a prevention duty in 2022-23.

Of those securing accommodation, the most common outcome was those securing accommodation in social rented supported housing or a hostel. This accounted for 47.8% and 48.2% of those securing accommodation at the prevention and relief stages respectively.

Of the 1,800 households on custody departure who were homeless after relief and due a main duty decision, 690 (38.3%) were owed a main duty. Of the remaining 1,110 households who were not owed a main duty:

* 81.1% were homeless but with no priority need

• 14.4% were intentionally homeless but had a priority need

• 4.5% were not owed a main duty for other reasons

Flow of households required to leave accommodation provided by the Home Office as asylum support

2.0% of households owed a duty had required to leave accommodation provided by Home Office as asylum support, equating to 5,300 households assessed as owed a duty in 2022-23.

Of the 5,300 households from this group who received homelessness assistance in 2022-23:

• 47.4% secured accommodation for 6+ months (compared to 47.6% of all households)

• 14.9% left the system for Other reasons (versus 23.6% overall)

• 27.7% were owed a main duty (versus 21.0% overall)

• 9.8% were homeless and not owed a main duty following relief (versus 7.9% overall).

More households were homeless on initial approach and owed a relief duty (64.0%), while the remaining 36.0% were owed a prevention duty.

Figure 25: Flow of households homeless, or threatened with homelessness after leaving accommodation provided as asylum support

Of those that secured accommodation at the end of a prevention duty, the most common outcomes were for accommodation secured in the private rented sector (35.9%) or a council or social rented supported housing or hostel (33.3%).

In contrast, for households required to leave asylum support accommodation who secured accommodation at the end of a relief duty, the most common accommodation outcomes were for accommodation secured in the private rented sector (26.6%), council or registered provider tenancy (25.4%) or social rented supported housing or hostel (28.3%)

Of the 1,990 households who were homeless after relief and due a main duty decision, 1,470 (73.9%) were owed a main duty. Of the remaining 520 households who were not owed a main duty:

• 98.1% were homeless but with no priority need

• 0.0% were intentionally homeless but had a priority need

• 1.9% were not owed a main duty for other reasons.

10. Accompanying tables

Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release. References to previously published tables are included where comparisons are possible.

Initial assessments of statutory homelessness duties owed

• A1: Number of households assessed and owed a prevention or relief duty

• A2P: Reason for loss of last settled home for households assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A2R: Reason for loss of last settled home for households assessed as owed a relief duty

• A3: Support needs of households assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A4P: Accommodation at time of application for households assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A4R: Accommodation at time of application for households assessed as owed a relief duty

• A5P: Household type at time of application for households assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A5R: Household type at time of application for households assessed as owed a relief duty

• A6: Age of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A7: Households referred to a local authority prior to being assessed

• A8: Ethnicity of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention of relief duty

• A9: Nationality of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A10: Employment status of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A11: Reason for eligibility of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A12: Sexual Identity of main applicants assess as owed a prevention or relief duty

Statutory homelessness prevention duty outcomes

• P1: Reason for households’ prevention duty ending

• P2: Type of accommodation secured for households at end of prevention duty

• P3: Main prevention activity that resulted in accommodation secured for households at end of prevention duty

• P4: Destination of households with alternative accommodation secured at end of prevention duty

• P5: Household type of households with accommodation secured at end of prevention duty

Statutory homelessness relief duty outcomes

• R1: Reason for households’ relief duty ending

• R2: Type of accommodation secured for households at end of relief duty

• R3: Main prevention activity that resulted in accommodation secured for households at end of relief duty

• R4: Destination of households with alternative accommodation secured at end of relief duty

• R5: Household type of households with accommodation secured at end of relief duty

Statutory homelessness main duty decisions & outcomes

• MD1: Outcome of main duty decision for eligible households

• MD2: Outcome of households no longer owed a main duty

• MD3: Priority need category of households owed a main duty

Additional breakdowns, below, for 2023-24 can be at found at Statutory homelessness in England financial year 2023-24.

Households with children

• A2Pc: Reason for loss of last settled home for households with children assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A2Rc: Reason for loss of last settled home for households with children assessed as owed a relief duty

• A3c: Support needs of households with children assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A4Pc: Accommodation at time of application for households with children assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A4Rc: Accommodation at time of application for households with children assessed as owed a relief duty

• P1c: Reason for households with children’s prevention duty ending

• P2c: Type of accommodation secured for households with children at end of prevention duty

• R1c: Reason for households with children’s relief duty ending

• R2c: Type of accommodation secured for households with children at end of relief duty

Single households

• A2Ps: Reason for loss of last settled home for single households assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A2Rs: Reason for loss of last settled home for single households assessed as owed a relief duty

• A3s: Support needs of single households assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty

• A4Ps: Accommodation at time of application for single households assessed as owed a prevention duty

• A4Rs: Accommodation at time of application for single households assessed as owed a relief duty

• P1s: Reason for single households’ prevention duty ending

• P2s: Type of accommodation secured for single households at end of prevention duty

• R1s: Reason for single households’ relief duty ending

• R2s: Type of accommodation secured for single households at end of relief duty

Additional temporary accommodation breakdowns

• TA4: Number of households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter, by length of time

• TA4c: Number of households with children in temporary accommodation at end of quarter, by length of time

• TA4s: Number of single households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter, by length of time

• TA5: Number of households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter, by age of lead applicant

• TA6: Number of households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter, by ethnicity of lead applicant

• Additional local authority level data on age of under 18 year olds in temporary accommodation

11. About our statistics

11.1 Technical information

Further details on H-CLIC, imputation, suppression, response rate, temporary accommodation data, and outputs in included with this annual release are available in the dedicated technical note. Further technical information related to our statistics, including information on changes to methodology are included in the relevant quarterly release pages and the respective technical notes.

11.2 Statistics labelling

These statistics are have been labelled Accredited Official Statistics. See information on Accredited Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in October 2023. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’

Please note that Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

More information on the UK statistical system is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at MHCLG is available via the Department’s website.