Homelessness soars in England due to sky-high rents and asylum backlog crackdown

The Tory government’s attempts to clear the asylum backlog and sky-high private rents have driven a 10% surge in homelessness in England over the last year, government figures show.

Annual official statistics show 358,370 households contacted their local authority for support after being threatened with homelessness or losing their home in 2023-24. Of these, 324,990 were assessed as homeless.

The number of households living in temporary accommodation has been increasing since 2021-22 with costs pushing councils across England to the brink of bankruptcy.

A total of 117,450 households were living in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2024 –  higher than at any other point since records began in 1998 and an increase of 12.3% from the same period last year.

The number of households with children in temporary accommodation rose by 14.7% to 74,530, with the number of children total in temporary accommodation reaching 151,630.

Homelessness has continued to spiral out of control in recent months. In July, the National Audit Office found the previous government had no plan to prevent rising homelessness and warned that the issue would continue to get worse before it got better.

Jen Clark, economic and social rights lead at Amnesty International UK, said the government “must move beyond blaming inherited policies” and the promise of new housing as a “magic future solution” to the homelessness crisis. 

Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes and prioritise social rent properties to tackle the housing crisis while housing secretary Angela Rayner will head up a cross-government unit focused on tackling homelessness.

“The homelessness emergency is already upon us. Urgent action is needed to protect human rights as people will be facing a life-or-death situation this winter without safe and secure housing,” added Clark.

“The government must rapidly implement a crisis action plan, including addressing the appalling quality of emergency and temporary accommodation, lack of secure funding for services, inadequate hostel systems and barriers to access adequate healthcare.  We can no longer tolerate the fact that children’s health is perilously affected because of inertia in political decision making. 

“Housing and homelessness dominated the Labour Party conference conversations but there were glaring omissions regarding what will be done to help those people most at risk. We need urgent and immediate action to address the homelessness crisis holistically and make home a protected right by law.”

Statisticians identified Home Office efforts to clear the asylum backlog last autumn as a key driver of homelessness. Thousands of asylum seekers were granted refugee status in a bid to cut down on the backlog and Big Issue reported that scores ended up reporting as homeless to councils.

The statistics, released on Thursday (3 October), showed the numbers of households owed a prevention duty by local authorities rose almost 114% after leaving Home Office accommodation while there was a 251% increase in households owed homelessness relief.

“Years of hostile government policies towards people seeking asylum in the UK created a backlog of cases at massive cost to the Home Office, with huge numbers of people trapped in asylum accommodation,” said Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link, the membership body for homelessness services. 

“In an effort to address the mounting backlog, in August 2023, the previous government, without consulting local authorities or the homelessness and migrant sectors, suddenly changed the procedure for ending asylum support once a decision had been made. This resulted in many people being given less than 28 days, and as little as seven days in many cases, to make move-on arrangements after being told to leave their asylum accommodation 

“The result was the huge increase in the number of newly recognised refugees experiencing homelessness we see today, as they had so little time to apply for entitlements and work with local authorities and charities to find long-term accommodation.

“For people who had already fled their home country in traumatic circumstances, sleeping rough in a new country was deeply traumatising, with many likely to live with the impact for years to come. Meanwhile underfunded services still continue to see high numbers of newly recognised refugees turning to them for support.  

“The new government must learn from these mistakes and increase the move on period from asylum accommodation from 28 to 56 days, in line with the Homelessness Reduction Act. This will give local authorities and charities the crucial time needed to work with people leaving the asylum system to find suitable accommodation and give them the stability to build the new life they’re entitled to.”

Meanwhile, private rents have continued to hit a record high over the last year as reforms have stalled in parliament. That has seen a sharp rise in the number of renters facing homelessness, the statistics show.

A total of 57,340 households needed council support after being threatened with homelessness following the end of a private rented tenancy, up 4.6% annually and more than a third of the 146,430 households owed a prevention duty overall. More than half of these households included children.

Meanwhile, 22,160 households required homelessness relief after losing their private rented homes, up 8.9% in just a year.

The most common reason for renters being threatened with homelessness was the landlord wishing to sell or re-let the property, accounting for 22,350 households and up 2.6% since 2022-23.

There was also an 89% annual increase in the number of households owed a prevention duty due to an increase in rent. 

Tom Darling, director of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said the statistics show the need for ministers to urgently axe no-fault evictions. Also known as section 21 evictions, the mechanism allows landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason.

The pro-renter pressure group called for tenants to be compensated by landlords if they are evicted ahead of the Renters’ Rights Bill returning to parliament next week.

“It’s frankly ridiculous section 21 still exists – we’re approaching six years since the previous government first promised to abolish it, while every indicator on the dashboard has been going in the wrong direction. It’s clear from today’s data that the renting crisis is driving the homelessness crisis,” said Darling.

“Amid this escalating social crisis, the government’s Renters’ Rights Bill is absolutely crucial. This legislation is a significant improvement on the last government’s effort. 

“The government should hold their nerve in the face of threats from landlords of a wave of evictions before the reforms come in. This threat in itself shows why change is so desperately needed.”

Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali said: “These numbers are more than just statistics. They show the devastating impact homelessness has on peoples’ lives and it is shocking that so many, including families with children, are spending years without a place to call home.

“We are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness – not just its symptoms – putting in place lasting solutions rather than quick fixes.

“We are reversing the worst housing crisis in living history by building 1.5 million new homes and are changing the law to abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions – immediately tackling one of the leading causes of homelessness. In addition, we’ve announced a new dedicated cross-government group, tasked with creating a long-term strategy to end the disgraceful levels of homelessness.”

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