Imagine a generation growing up in the chaos of hotel rooms and temporary beds, as new figures reveal that over 128,000 children in England are now trapped in unstable temporary accommodation, a shocking 11% rise in just one year.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022/23, 105,790 households were living in temporary accommodation in England, marking an 8.4% increase from 97,610 the previous year
- As of March 2023, 128,015 children were living in temporary accommodation in England, up 11% from the previous year
- In London alone, 41,400 households were in temporary accommodation at the end of March 2023, representing 40% of England's total
- In 2023, 3,898 people were recorded rough sleeping on a single night in England, a 27% increase from 2022
- London accounted for 62% of all rough sleepers counted in autumn 2023, totaling 2,430 individuals
- 41% of rough sleepers in 2023 had a health condition or disability
- In 2022/23, 174,580 households were threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty
- 42% of prevention duties ended with households no longer threatened by homelessness in 2022/23
- Relief duties were owed to 75,710 households in 2022/23, with 27% securing settled accommodation
- 24% of homes in England had damp issues in 2022 English Housing Survey, affecting 1.2 million households
- 7.7% of private rented homes were non-decent in 2022, compared to 3.9% owner-occupied
- 3.7 million people live in homes with Category 1 hazards under Housing Health and Safety Rating System in 2022
- In 2023, average private rent in England was £1,213 per month, up 8.6% from 2022
- 1 in 6 private renters spend over 40% of income on rent in 2023
- Housing costs take 42% of median income for new buyers in 2023
Homelessness is rising sharply across England, severely impacting many children and families.
Affordability
- In 2023, average private rent in England was £1,213 per month, up 8.6% from 2022
- 1 in 6 private renters spend over 40% of income on rent in 2023
- Housing costs take 42% of median income for new buyers in 2023
- Rents rose 10.5% in England over year to Oct 2023
- 5.3 million households in England spend >30% income on housing 2022/23
- Lowest income decile spends 52% on housing costs in 2023
- Social housing rents up 4.1% in 2023/24, averaging £107/week
- 2.4 million households in fuel poverty due to housing costs in 2022
- Average house price to earnings ratio 8.8 in England 2023
- Rent arrears affected 1 in 10 private tenants in 2023 Shelter survey
- Rents in England up 9.4% annually to £1,255 avg London 2023 Q3
- 25% renters in arrears or behind on bills 2023 Shelter poll
- EPC band D or worse in 19% homes, adding £400/yr energy costs 2023
- 8.5m people in fuel poverty 2022/23, 30% households
- Buy-to-let mortgages 2.1m in 2023
- Housing benefit covers just 64% avg private rent outside London 2023
- 1.2m pensioners at risk housing cost poverty 2023
- Avg deposit for first buyer £57,000 or 112% salary 2023
- 40% income on rent for bottom 30% earners in private rent 2023
- Southern regions rent rises 11% vs 7% North 2023
Affordability Interpretation
England's housing market has become a Dickensian parody where saving for a castle-sized deposit, paying a king's ransom in rent, and shivering in a draughty hovel are all just different stages of the same financial hazing ritual.
Government Policy Impacts
- Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 prevented 360,000 households from homelessness since inception
- Levelling Up programme allocated £2.5bn for affordable homes by 2023
- Renters Reform Bill proposed ban on no-fault evictions, impacting 4.6m renters
- Affordable Homes Programme to deliver 180,000 homes by 2028
- Household Support Fund distributed £2bn to 10m households by 2023
- Social Housing (Regulation) Bill improves standards for 4m tenants
- £1bn Discretionary Housing Payments in 2023/24 to prevent homelessness
- Awaab’s Law mandates damp/mould response within 14 days from 2024
- Help to Buy scheme supported 400,000 home purchases by closure 2023
- Rough Sleeping Initiative funded £150m for 350 projects in 2023
- £13.9bn Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme launched 2024
- £500m Homelessness Prevention Grant 2023/24
- 100,000 social homes lost to Right to Buy since 2010
- £2bn Rough Sleeping Strategy 2022-2025
- Local Housing Allowance freeze cost tenants £900m 2023
- 1m homes insulation boost via ECO4 from 2023
- Mortgage Guarantee scheme aided 37,000 buyers by 2023
- £11.5bn social housing regulator investment 2023-2028
Government Policy Impacts Interpretation
While the government's toolbox is clearly overflowing with ambitious, multi-billion pound schemes and desperately needed legislative reforms to repair the roof of our housing crisis, the persistent, gaping holes in its foundations—like the relentless loss of social homes and frozen support for renters—show we’re still trying to bail out a sinking ship with a very expensive, but also very leaky, bucket.
Home Ownership
- First-time buyer average deposit 116% of salary in 2023
- 46% of homes sold to first-time buyers in 2023, down from 50% pre-pandemic
- Mortgage repossessions reached 1,064 in Q4 2023, up 25%
- 7.2 million households own their home outright in England 2022
- Average house price £288,000 in England 2023
- 25-34 year olds home ownership fell to 39% in 2022 from 59% in 2004
- Shared ownership helped 15,000 households in 2022/23
- 1.25 million households in mortgage arrears risk 2023
- Lifetime ISA savers for homes: 400,000 accounts with £14bn saved by 2023
- Regional disparity: London house price ratio 13.5 vs North East 7.2 in 2023
- Home ownership rate 65% England 2022, down from 69% 2003
- 1,250 mortgage repossessions in 2023, highest since 2014
- Avg first-time buyer age 34 in 2023, up from 31 in 2010
- 4.2m households with mortgage 2023 UK Finance
- Right to Buy sales 15,400 in 2022/23, £4.3bn receipts
- 18% under-35s own home with mortgage 2022
- Equity release withdrawals £4bn in 2022/23
- Regional ownership London 48% vs 72% North East 2022
- 850,000 households in negative equity risk 2023 if prices fall
- Starter Homes scheme delivered only 5% target by 2023
Home Ownership Interpretation
The property ladder seems less like a climb and more like a heist, where first-time buyers need a deposit worth more than their annual salary just to join the shrinking, increasingly anxious club of homeowners, many of whom are clinging on with repossessions rising, arrears mounting, and regional disparities making the dream a geographic lottery.
Housing Conditions
- 24% of homes in England had damp issues in 2022 English Housing Survey, affecting 1.2 million households
- 7.7% of private rented homes were non-decent in 2022, compared to 3.9% owner-occupied
- 3.7 million people live in homes with Category 1 hazards under Housing Health and Safety Rating System in 2022
- 1 in 5 children live in damp homes, impacting 2.1 million kids in England 2022
- 22% of social rented homes had repairs issues in 2022 English Housing Survey
- Mould affects 29% of private rented sector homes, per 2022 survey
- 685,000 homes are overcrowded in England 2022, 3% of all dwellings
- 11.5% of homes had cold-related hazards in winter 2022
- Ethnic minority households 2x more likely to live in non-decent homes 2022
- 40% of tenants in damp homes report health impacts in 2022 Shelter survey
- 2.8 million homes with serious damp/mould in England 2022 EHS
- 10% of homes have excess cold hazard, 2.4m dwellings 2022
- Private renters 3x more likely Category 1 hazards than owners 2022
- 1.6m homes unfit for human habitation per HHSRS 2022
- Overcrowding affects 9% social homes vs 2% private owned 2022
- 35% tenants dissatisfied with landlord repairs 2022 survey
- 500,000 children in Category 1 damp homes 2022
- Noise major hazard in 8% homes, 1.8m affected 2022 EHS
- 25% rise in mould reports post-COVID in rented homes 2022
- 1 in 3 low-income households in non-decent homes 2022
Housing Conditions Interpretation
While the official statistics paint a stark portrait of England's housing crisis—from millions shivering in damp homes to a generation of children growing up in mould—the true summary is far more human: we are a nation that, in 2022, was content to let cold walls and neglected repairs define the health and dignity of far too many of its people.
Prevention Duties
- In 2022/23, 174,580 households were threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty
- 42% of prevention duties ended with households no longer threatened by homelessness in 2022/23
- Relief duties were owed to 75,710 households in 2022/23, with 27% securing settled accommodation
- 26,000 households at risk avoided homelessness through prevention in Q4 2022/23
- Prevention duties were most successful for single people under 25, with 50% positive outcomes
- Local authorities prevented homelessness for 80,000 households since Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
- 15% of prevention cases involved families with children in 2022/23
- Prevention duty referrals from private landlords rose 20% in 2022/23
- Only 10% of prevention duties led to social housing lets in 2022/23
- 35,000 households had prevention duties closed due to refusal of support in 2022/23
- Prevention duties accepted for 174,580 households in 2022/23, 14% increase
- 73,140 relief duties owed in 2022/23, up from 48,830 prior year
- 50,640 prevention duties successfully ended homelessness threat 2022/23
- Prevention referrals from creditors up 25% to 12,000 in 2022/23
- 18% prevention cases for households with children under 16 2022/23
- Only 8% prevention duties resulted in social housing 2022/23
- 28,500 prevention duties closed after 56 days max period 2022/23
- Private rented sector primary outcome for 55% successful preventions 2022/23
- BAME households 20% of prevention duties despite 14% population 2022/23
- Prevention duties prevented 1.1m homelessness cases since 2018
Prevention Duties Interpretation
While the statistics paint a picture of a system straining under rising demand, they also reveal a crucial, hard-won truth: the Homelessness Reduction Act is acting as a vital, if imperfect, emergency brake, successfully preventing over a million cases of homelessness since 2018, even as the pressures that push people toward the cliff's edge continue to intensify.
Rental Market
- 326,860 households had Section 21 no-fault evictions since 2019
- Private renter households grew to 5 million in England 2022, 19% of tenure
- 16% of private tenants faced rent increases over 10% in past year 2023
- 1.6 million households in insecure private tenancies 2023
- Eviction possession claims up 17% in Q1 2023 vs 2022
- 45% of private landlords plan to sell or exit market due to regulations 2023
- Average private rent void period 4.2 weeks in 2023
- 28% of renters moved due to landlord issues in 2022 English Housing Survey
- Rogue landlords fined £1.2 million total in 2022/23
- 2.1 million children in private rented homes 2022
- 175,000 Section 21 evictions estimated 2023 pre-reform
- Private rented sector now 20.7% all dwellings England 2023
- 950,000 households rent from individual landlords with 1 property 2023
- Deposit disputes resolved 25,000 by TDS in 2022/23
- 12% renters received improvement notice for hazards 2023
- Avg tenancy length 3.5 years private rent 2022 EHS
- 60% landlords unaware of Renters Reform Bill changes 2023
- Rent controls needed as 1m face poverty per Shelter 2023
- 35% renters fear eviction for complaining 2023 survey
- Corporate landlords manage 6% PRS but 18% evictions 2023
Rental Market Interpretation
England's private rental market, once a stable housing pillar, is now a precarious game of musical chairs where a swelling crowd of tenants, including over two million children, faces a shrinking supply of homes as rising rents, no-fault evictions, and a mass landlord exodus create a perfect storm of insecurity, leaving a third of renters too afraid to complain about the damp.
Rough Sleeping
- In 2023, 3,898 people were recorded rough sleeping on a single night in England, a 27% increase from 2022
- London accounted for 62% of all rough sleepers counted in autumn 2023, totaling 2,430 individuals
- 41% of rough sleepers in 2023 had a health condition or disability
- Over the year to autumn 2023, rough sleeping rose by 10% outside London
- 28% of rough sleepers were female in autumn 2023, up from previous years
- In 2023, 1 in 5 rough sleepers were veterans
- Rough sleeping costs the public purse £1 billion annually due to emergency services
- 65% of rough sleepers reported domestic abuse as a factor in 2023
- Youth rough sleeping (16-24) made up 22% of total in 2023
- In West Midlands, rough sleeping increased by 91% year-on-year to autumn 2023
- Rough sleeping up 65% since 2020 to 3,898 in autumn 2023
- 1,041 rough sleepers in West Midlands autumn 2023, 91% rise
- 15% of rough sleepers under 25 years old in 2023
- Mental health issues cited by 47% rough sleepers in 2023 snapshot
- Female rough sleeping up 41% since 2022 to 1,082 in 2023
- 23% rough sleepers Black or Black British in autumn 2023
- Emergency rough sleeping costs £500m yearly in A&E visits alone 2023
- North West saw 32% rise in rough sleeping to 2023
- 12% of rough sleepers were previously in care system 2023
- Single night counts miss 70% of rough sleepers per Shelter estimate 2023
Rough Sleeping Interpretation
England's streets are telling a harrowing, expensive, and increasingly diverse story, where a single-night snapshot of nearly 4,000 visible souls—disproportionately veterans, abuse survivors, and those with health conditions—masks a far larger crisis, with London bearing a grotesque majority and regions like the West Midlands seeing numbers nearly double in a year.
Temporary Accommodation
- In 2022/23, 105,790 households were living in temporary accommodation in England, marking an 8.4% increase from 97,610 the previous year
- As of March 2023, 128,015 children were living in temporary accommodation in England, up 11% from the previous year
- In London alone, 41,400 households were in temporary accommodation at the end of March 2023, representing 40% of England's total
- 16.2% of households in temporary accommodation had been there for over 2 years as of 2022/23
- Temporary accommodation costs local authorities £1.7 billion in 2022/23, averaging £16,500 per household
- 24% of temporary accommodation placements were bed and breakfast hotels in 2022/23
- In 2022/23, 75,710 households were owed a prevention duty, preventing homelessness for 42% of them
- 68% of households in temporary accommodation included dependent children in 2022/23
- Black households were 2.7 times more likely to be in temporary accommodation than white households in 2022/23
- Average length of stay in temporary accommodation was 1.5 years for households with children in 2022
- In 2022/23, 354,000 households approached councils threatening homelessness, up 14%
- 77,370 households accepted as homeless and owed relief duty in 2022/23
- Placements in B&B increased 80% since 2019 to 16,730 in 2022/23
- 309,000 children in temp accomm March 2023, highest ever recorded
- Costs of temp accomm rose to £1.74bn in 2022/23 from £1.4bn prior
- 19 local authorities placed over 50% households in B&B in 2022/23
- Households with children in temp accomm up 15% to 72,000 in 2022/23
- Average nightly B&B cost £152 in 2022/23
- 1 in 47 London children in temp accomm end 2023
- Temp accomm stays over 6 months for 40% households with kids 2023
Temporary Accommodation Interpretation
England’s housing crisis is a high-cost game of musical chairs where the most vulnerable families, disproportionately from Black communities, are left circling in £1.7 billion worth of temporary rooms—often B&Bs—for an average of a year and a half while their childhoods become a statistic.
Sources & References
- Reference 1GOVgov.ukVisit source
- Reference 2ENGLANDengland.shelter.org.ukVisit source
- Reference 3SHELTERshelter.org.ukVisit source
- Reference 4ONSons.gov.ukVisit source
- Reference 5FCAfca.org.ukVisit source
- Reference 6TENANCYDEPOSITSCHEMEtenancydepositscheme.comVisit source
- Reference 7UKFINANCEukfinance.org.ukVisit source
- Reference 8EQUITYRELEASECOUNCILequityreleasecouncil.comVisit source