The number of households in temporary accommodation increased by 13.6% in December 2024, from the previous year. Polimapper’s visualisation shows that half of these were located in London.
The figures released this morning reveal that, between October to December 2024, 83.8k households were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness and owed a statutory homelessness duty.
According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, statutory homelessness refers to duties placed on local authorities to take reasonable steps to prevent and relieve homelessness to eligible houses.
Although the number of households initially assessed as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention or relief duty decreased from the same quarter in the previous year, the number of households in temporary accommodation soared.
By the end of the last quarter of 2024, over 127k households were in temporary accommodation (TA). Of these, 81k households were ones with children whilst 46.8k were adult only. The number of households with children in TA increased by 13.7% from the previous year.
London registered the highest number and rate of households that are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The data team at Polimapper has visualised statutory homelessness statistics to show trends on a geographical level.
On a local authority level, Newham, Luton, Islington and Westminster saw the highest rate of homeless households, at over 4.3 households per 1k households. This was lowest in Three Rivers (0.16) and East Hampshire (0.21).
Additionally, the London areas of Newham and Westminster registered the highest rates of households in temporary accommodation, at over 30 households per every 1,000. Explore statistics in your area below.
About this map
The map shows Statutory Homelessness statistics in England by local authority.
To view statistics in your area double click on the map or click here to launch the full page version.
Geodata context
On Tuesday Shelter released projections which show that 206k children will be living in temporary accommodation by 2029, a 26% increase over five years.
Mairi MacRae, director of policy and campaigns at Shelter: “It is a national shame that so many thousands of children in England are growing up in cramped, insecure temporary accommodation – sharing beds with siblings, eating dinner from trays on their laps, and being moved from one place to the next with no stability. This should never be the reality for any child, but without urgent action, the number of homeless families is set to soar.”
“Local councils are buckling under the pressure of the housing emergency, forced to spend billions just to keep people off the streets. It’s nonsensical that we keep sinking taxpayers money into damaging short-term fixes when we could invest in lasting solutions that give families the security and stability of a real home.”
“The spending review in June is a critical moment for the government to act. If they are serious about ending homelessness, they must commit to building 90,000 new social homes a year for a decade – ensuring that every family has the foundation of a genuinely affordable, stable home.”
