A new study from leading social enterprise Places for People reveals that 21% of people in the UK fear they or someone they know could become homeless in the next year. The research, conducted by Opinium and released ahead of the upcoming general election, highlights the urgent need for government action to address the growing homelessness crisis.
The worry is particularly acute among renters, with 30% of private renters and 29% of social renters fearing homelessness, compared to 15% of homeowners. The latest government data shows 3,898 people were counted as sleeping rough across England on a single night in Autumn 2023, with 121 in Wales and 2,438 households in Scotland reporting rough sleeping in the previous three months.
Rough sleeping figures do not fully capture the extent of homelessness. Government data shows the highest ever levels of households living in temporary accommodation: 112,660 in England, 15,625 in Scotland, and 5,700 in Wales. Additionally, there are 1.29 million households waiting for a social home in England, 110,900 in Scotland, and 90,000 in Wales.
Over 80% of people believe homelessness is a major national issue, and 77% think the government must build more social homes to tackle it. Places for People, which owns or manages over 245,000 homes across the UK, including 74,000 social homes, is calling for the next government to prioritise building 90,000 social homes per year.
John Greaves, chief impact officer at Places for People, said: “These figures should alarm us all. What we found has bluntly exposed the worry that exists throughout the country. Sadly, however, they do not come as a surprise – for too long we have been highlighting the seriousness of the ever-growing homelessness crisis facing the UK.
“With renters in both social and private properties most concerned, everything people are telling us points towards a desperate need to build more social homes, although delivering the right mix of all tenures remains vital to ease overall pressure. At Places for People, we’re doing all we can to build more quality homes, including for social rent, and we support those who have fallen on hard times and are being let down by the welfare system, but we can only do so much.
“We know that building 90,000 social homes a year will be a challenge, but we’re ready to help. We see an opportunity to deepen our collaboration with partners and work closely together as part of public-interest-led development groups. This would bring developers, local authorities, members of the public and others together on larger schemes to plan and deliver the quality homes needed in a more joined-up and community-focused way. This could be supported by giving Homes England greater flexibility over funding to deliver on more challenging sites. We want to put ourselves forward to work closely with Homes England and a local authority on a specific site to trial this model, building on the development corporation approach.
“As a sector, the concerns we have raised time and time again around the need for more social homes have not been listened to by Government in recent years. So, we are now urging whoever forms the next Government to listen to the people of the UK and put delivering more social homes at the top of your priority list. Talking’s over, it’s time to build.”
