Accredited official statistics

Statutory homelessness in England: July to September 2023 infographic

Updated 30 April 2024

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2024

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This document summarises the key findings from the quarterly statistics release for statutory homelessness assessments and activities in England covering the period between 1st July to 30th September 2023.

1. Homelessness duties

87,510 households had initial assessments, an increase of 12.2% since last year, and an increase of 6.7% since last quarter.

Chart 1 shows the number of accepted prevention and relief duties from 2019

35,760 households were owed a prevention duty, 42,690 households were owed a relief duty.

Chart 2 shows the household characteristics of those owed a prevention or relief duty

Chart 3 shows the reason for loss of settled home of those owed a prevention or relief duty

The prevention duty ended for 33,070 households, the relief duty ended for 46,290 households.

Chart 4 shows outcomes of duty end for those owed a prevention or relief duty

15,030 households were owed a main duty, up 16.3% from last year

Chart 5 shows the outcomes of main duty assessments

2. Temporary accommodation

Chart 6 shows the number of households in temporary accommodation on 30 September 2023

109,000 people were sleeping in temporary accommodation on 30th September 2023, an increase of 10.3% since last year, and up 3.0% since last quarter.

Map 1 shows the number of households in temporary accommodation per thousand households across England

A total of 142,490 dependant children were living in temporary accommodation on 30th September 2023.

Single households increased by 4.3% and households with children increased by 2.2% from the previous quarter.

There were 17 households living in temporary accommodation per 1000 households in London, compared with 2.3 households per 1000 in the Rest of England.

2.1 Types of temporary accommodation

80.9% of households with children were in self-contained accommodation (private sector, nightly paid, or local authority or housing association accommodation).

14,880 households were living in B&B accommodation, up 30.0% from last year. 68.5% of these households were single households, up 18.3% from last year.

4,680 households with dependent children were in in B&Bs, up 65.4% from the same date last year.

Of these, 2,680 had been resident for more than the statutory limit of 6 weeks, up 121.5% from last year and up 6.8% from the previous quarter.

3. Notes on usage

  • Statutory homelessness concerns duties placed on local authorities to take reasonable steps to prevent and relieve homelessness to eligible houses.
  • Each case included in this report is representative of a household, which includes households with children as well as single adult houses.
  • This report only covers those owed a duty between 1st July and 30th September 2023.
  • All figures except for temporary accommodation is a cumulative count over the period of the reported quarter, temporary accommodation is a snapshot of the last day of the quarter.
  • Data is collected via the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection, submitted quarterly by local authorities. This method of collection was introduced in 2018 alongside significant homelessness legislation; before this statutory homelessness was recorded in the P1E.
  • Definitions and a comprehensive breakdown of the quality assurance process can be found in the technical notes.

4. Uses and limitations

These statistics can be used:

  • To count the number of homelessness duties accepted by local authorities for this quarter and to compare local authorities and regions in England
  • To assess changes in the number of homelessness duties since 2018
  • To understand the causes, circumstances, and characteristics of households owed a duty for this quarter
  • To understand the number of households and the characteristics of Temporary Accommodation

These statistics are not suitable:

  • To estimate the total number of people sleeping rough
  • To estimate the total number of people sofa surfing, those in recreational or organised protest, those in squats, or traveller campsites
  • To estimate the households that have yet to make a homelessness application and those who aren’t eligible
  • To compare with other countries in the UK
  • To compare to figures recorded via the P1E

5. Further information

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