Homelessness assessment
UK
Number of households (000s)
Not comparable due to legislative differences
In Scotland, the declining trend can possibly be explained by the introduction of Housing Options services in 2010 in Scottish local authorities, with a focus on prevention. We are exploring the inclusion of other statistics on assessments and duties, and of alternative ways of visualising the data. See the full metadata for more details on comparability and on statistics reported for each country.
Total number of households owed a prevention or relief duty; Total number of households owed a prevention or relief duty (per 100,000 households)
Homelessness statistics
Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
England
2018 Q2 to 2022 Q2
Quarterly
2018 Q2
Data preceding Q2 2018 is not directly comparable with this time series. Data following Q2 2018 regards duties applicable under the HRA 2017.
The introduction of initial homelessness duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act in Q2 2018 represents a break in the time series, as households now receive a minimum of 56 days assistance prior to being assessed for and owed a main duty.
Data under "Statutory homelessness" heading within link
2018 household figures used for all 4 quarters of 2018; 2019 household figures for all 4 quarters of 2019 etc
Where data is missing for only certain LAs, this is due to LAs not providing data for those quarters.
Homeless or threatened with homelessness (households); Homeless or threatened with homelessness (per 100,000 households)
HL1 case-level homeless applications data collection
Scottish Government
Scotland
April 2002 to March 2003 - April 2020 to March 2021
Annually
April 2002 to March 2003
Changes in applications and assessments can be driven by changes in legislation, policy and practice. The increase in homelessness between 2002/03 and 2006/07 was in part a consequence of Scottish homelessness legislation which extended councils’ duties to non-priority homeless households. The priority need test was abolished on 31st December 2012. Meanwhile, the number of homelessness applications has decreased in more recent years from 2008/09 to 2016/17, which is likely to have been due to the impact of the introduction of Housing Options services in Scottish local authorities, with a focus on prevention.
Number of households threatened with homelessness, prevention assistance provided (Section 66); Number of households threatened with homelessness, prevention assistance provided (Section 66) (per 100,000 households)
Homeless Data Collection form
Welsh Government
Wales
April 2015 to March 2016 - April 2020 to March 2021
Annually
April 2015 to March 2016
The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 introduced a number of changes to statutory homeless legislation. These changes were introduced on 27 April 2015. This requires local authority to record all assessment outcomes (which may result in multiple outcomes for one household).
https://gov.wales/statutory-homelessness-legislative-changes-27-april-2015
Number of households statutorily homeless; Number of households statutorily homeless (per 100,000 households)
Northern Ireland Housing Executive administrative data
Department for Communities, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
April 2018 to September 2018 - April 2020 to September 2020
Bi-annually
April 2018 to September 2018
All data is from spreadsheet sent over by NI to CHI (specific data request). Spreadsheet saved as "Copy of NI data 0.1.2 &0.3.1"
In order to improve the timeliness of the publication, biannual reporting periods have been adjusted to run from January-June and July-December from the third edition of the NI Homelessness Bulletin onwards; representing calendar rather than financial year. Figures for April-June 2019 fell outside of the reporting period for the 3rd edition of the bulletin only, but have been published in the accompanying tables in order to complete the time series.
Northern Ireland Homelessness data and statistics reflects its legislation. The major points of are applicants presenting as homeless, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive Assessment, and then outcomes, which include "Full Duty applicant" for those who meet the NIHE criteria.
For Q1 2020 - Q3 2020, the following note was added by NI: "Due to keying profiles, some cases from Lisburn may be included in Belfast figures. These will be adjusted at end of year."