CIH responds to the latest statutory homelessness statistics

Today the government published the latest statutory homelessness statistics covering the period from July - September 2024. This quarter’s release shows a 15.7 per cent annual rise in the number of households living in temporary accommodation, including 164,040 homeless children. This is an untenable and unhealthy situation for these families and unsustainable for local government.  

Additionally, the government published the rough sleeping snapshot in England for Autumn 2024, which showed that 4,667 people were sleeping rough on a single night, a 20 per cent increase from last year. This number has been rising for consecutive three years, and shows the increasingly precarious and dangerous position many people are left in without a safe and affordable home. 

As shocking as these numbers are, they likely underestimate the true levels of homelessness and housing insecurity in England. In our submission to the Spending Review, we urged the government to address this crisis - boost the supply of homes at social rent, address Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to ensure it truly reflects housing cost rates, end the benefit cap and two-child benefit cap, and provide long-term certainty to the supported housing sector.

These levels of homelessness are not inevitable, but sustained intervention is needed. We look forward to the government’s forthcoming homelessness and housing strategies, outlining a bold plan to end homelessness for good and setting out a vision for a housing model that works for all. 

We will be discussing developments further at our Homelessness Policy Group on 7 April – open to CIH members working on homelessness support and prevention. For further details please email policyandpractice@cih.org.