Research indicates that homelessness can be caused by a complex interplay between structural, individual, and interpersonal factors.
This paper summarises what is known about the causes of homelessness and outlines the UK Government’s approach to tackling homelessness in England, including its programme of commissioned research.
Causes of homelessness
Various structural, individual, and interpersonal factors can lead to homelessness or put someone at risk. Structural drivers include an undersupply of social rented housing, restrictions to benefit entitlement and rising living costs. Personal and interpersonal factors include, mental health issues (including substance dependence), relationship breakdown, and income levels. Poverty is an example of how personal and structural factors can interact to increase someone’s risk of homelessness.
A lack of housing supply in England is widely acknowledged as an important driver of homelessness. The shortage is greater in some areas than others. Commentators argue that England is experiencing an ‘affordability crisis’ which requires solutions that extend beyond the number of homes built.
A well-established model for estimating housing supply requirements in England indicates a need for an additional 300,000 homes each year until 2030, of which 60-70,000 should be for social rent. The same analysis concludes that these figures should rise to a total of 350,000 new homes annually from 2030, with 90,000 of these being for social rent each year.
Various welfare reforms, including freezing Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels, have reduced housing options for benefit claimants, especially in areas with high housing demand. LHA rates set the maximum amount of help people receiving benefits can claim towards their housing costs in the private rented sector. A wide body of research has shown that freezing LHA rates increases the risk of homelessness because it separates the link between housing benefit assistance and the evolution of local private rental prices. Rising living costs are compounding these effects.
A 2024 value for money report from the National Audit Office (NAO) highlights a “notable” increase in the number of households becoming homeless due to a private sector tenancy ending between 2018/19 and 2022/23.
Evidence suggests that people in specific groups can be at greater risk and have distinct experiences of homelessness. For example, young people, women, and people from minority ethnic groups.
A commitment to tackling homelessness
The 2024 Labour government’s manifesto (PDF) includes commitments to:
- develop a cross-government homelessness strategy
- deliver “the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation”
- “immediately” abolish section 21 of the Housing Act 1988
The 2019 Conservative government said it had put tackling homelessness and rough sleeping “firmly at the heart” of its agenda. The focus was on implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, delivering the 2022 cross-government Ending rough sleeping for good strategy, and supporting the delivery of more affordable homes and specialist services.
The 2022 rough sleeping strategy includes measures to address youth homelessness, including:
- support for care leavers to secure and maintain suitable accommodation
- investment in accommodation and support for single people
- funding for local youth services
Local authorities received increased funding over 2020/21 to tackle homelessness during the pandemic, with a particular focus on protecting rough sleepers.
The Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 confirmed an 85% increase in spending, compared with pre-pandemic levels, to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness. This brought total funding to £1.9 billion resource and £109 million capital investment over the SR21 period. Multiple, subsequent ‘top ups’ and ‘boosts’ to this funding brought the total government investment to an “unprecedented” £2.4 billion over three years (2022-25).
In September 2023, the Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping’s report, Turning the Tide on Rising Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, concluded that the 2019 Conservative government would “not meet its goal to end rough sleeping by 2024.”
Calls for additional measures
Local authorities and homelessness organisations across England have expressed concern over the impact of increased numbers of households in temporary accommodation. The cost of providing temporary accommodation in 2022/23 was almost £1.7 billion.
The NAO’s 2024 report highlighted that “dealing with homelessness is creating unsustainable financial pressure for some local authorities.” The NAO’s overall conclusion was that the government will not be able to demonstrate value for money, until it addresses funding constraints on local authorities’ capacity to prevent homelessness and invest in good-quality temporary accommodation or other forms of housing. They also note that while some areas have improved since their 2017 report, there is still no overarching government strategy or targets for reducing statutory homelessness, and delivery of new housing supply is behind scheduled targets.
There is a growing consensus about the link between rising homelessness levels and changes to benefit entitlement. For example, the periodic capping and freezing of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates for people renting in the private sector. Many commentators are calling for a long-term commitment to uplift LHA rates in line with the cheapest 30% of the private rented market to help prevent affordability challenges that can lead to homelessness.
Charities across the youth homelessness sector launched a campaign in 2023, calling on the government to develop a national cross-departmental youth homelessness strategy for England, informed by young people’s lived experience. These calls follow growing concerns about the number of young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and the capacity of local authorities to support this age group.
The Library briefing on Statutory homelessness (England): The legal framework and performance explains local authorities' duties to homeless households and summarises stakeholder views on how local authorities are performing. It also provides and outline of the official homelessness statistics.