Today saw the launch of the latest statutory homelessness figures from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. These figures highlight the number of people facing homelessness who have approached their local council for support.
Coming just over three weeks after Andy Burnham’s landmark announcement to end rough sleeping, the statistics paint a sobering picture of what still needs to happen to achieve this ambition. Emma Haddad, CEO at St Mungo’s, responds to the data:
“Today’s figures show why the Prime Minister’s commitment to end rough sleeping is so important. There have been small improvements in some areas, but the overall picture remains stark: thousands of people are still being pushed into homelessness or forced to turn to councils in a state of emergency.
“Between January and March, 83,850 households were owed support to prevent or relieve homelessness, including 39,200 households at risk of homelessness and 44,650 households who were already homeless. The end of a private rented tenancy remains the most common reason people are at risk of losing their home, underlining the urgent need to make renting safer and more secure.
“The repeal of the Renters’ Rights Act, announced earlier in the year, should help reduce this pressure in future by putting an end to ‘no-fault’ evictions – but legislation alone will not end homelessness. These figures show homelessness is about far more than a lack of housing. Most households seeking help have additional support needs, underlining the need for investment in mental health, substance use and wider support services alongside secure housing. Our frontline teams see that the longer these needs aren’t addressed, the more protracted people’s health needs become and the harder it is to help people recover from homelessness or prevent it outright.
“That is why we need system-wide change: preventing homelessness outright, more secure housing, and the right support at the right time for people facing the greatest barriers. At St Mungo’s, our frontline teams see every day that with safe accommodation and sustained as well as tailored support, people can recover from homelessness and rebuild their lives.
“Andy Burnham’s announcement is a welcome and important opportunity to drive that change forward. We now need to see that ambition turned into delivery, so fewer people are pushed into homelessness and rough sleeping can be ended for good.”
For a breakdown of the figures, please see the below:
- Initial assessments were made for 92,200 households, down 1% from January to March 2025, but up from 84,250 households in England in October to December 2025. From these assessments, 83,850 were assessed as owed a duty to prevent or relieve homelessness, down 2.1% from the same time last year. Of these:
- 39,200, 46.8% of households owed a duty, were assessed as at risk of becoming homelessness and therefore owed a prevention duty, up 1.8% from the same time last year.
- 44,650, 53.2% of households owed a duty, were initially assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty, down 5.3% from the same time last year.
- 35,130 households had a prevention duty end between January to March 2026, down 3.6% from the same quarter last year. Of these households:
- Most had their prevention duty end with the household securing accommodation for 6 months or more, 54.7% or 19,230 households. Up 3.6 percentage points compared to the same time last year.
- A quarter became homeless, 25% or 8,770 households would then be owed a relief duty. Down 2.4 percentage points compared to the same time last year.
- 51,600 households had a relief duty end between January to March 2026, down 3.5% from the same quarter last year. Of these households:
- Most had their relief duty end because their homelessness had not been relieved within 56 days, 47.1% or 24,280 households, meaning their local authority would need to assess whether the households would be owed additional support though the main homelessness duty. This is down 4.6 percentage points compared to the same time last year.
- Over a third, 34.8% or 17,950 households had their relief duty end with the households securing accommodation for 6 months or more. Up 3.9 percentage points compared to the same time last year.
- 14,690 households had their main homelessness duty come to an end between January to March 2026, up 11.5% from the same time last year.
- Of these, 11,650 households, 79.3%, had their main duty come to and end due to accepting an offer of settled accommodation, a higher proportion than the same time last year up 1.6 percentage points.
- 135,580 households were in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2026, an increase of 1.1% from the previous quarter and 3.6% from the same time last year. London and other major cities had the highest rates of households in temporary accommodation, with 21.1 households living in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households in London. This is compared with 5.5 households per 1,000 households in England.
- 51,390 (37.9%) households were in nightly paid self-contained accommodation. Compared to the same time last year this is up 2.3 percentage points.
- End of private rented Assured Shorthold Tenancy remained the most common reason for households being owed a prevention duty, accounting for 14,120 or 36.0% of households.
- The proportion of households owed a duty with one or more support needs has been increasing annually, the most common support need is history of mental health problems, accounting for 30.6%, 24.1% being physical ill health and disability and 13.4% at risk or experienced domestic abuse.
- People with multiple complex needs (three or more support needs) increased by nearly 3% from the same time last year.
