Homeless Link responds to the Government’s homelessness statistics for Q1 2020

20 Aug 2020 06:56 PM

On 20 August, the Government released its homelessness and temporary accommodation data for January to March 2020, which includes the first week of the Coronavirus lockdown in England.

There were 93,000 households living in temporary accommodation at the end of March 2020, up 9.4% from 85,040 on 31st March 2019. This increase is driven by single households, and may be linked to the COVID-19 ‘Everyone in’ scheme.

Other key statistics include:

• 10,260 households were assessed as being unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and owed a main duty. This is compared to 7,570 in Q1 2019.
• 36,690 households were initially assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty, compared to 32,740 the previous year.
• There were 17.1 households living in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households in London, compared with 1.6 households per 1,000 in the Rest of England.

Rick Henderson, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, comments: “Sadly, thousands of people’s lives continue to be affected by homelessness, with more households finding themselves without a roof over their heads, or living in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

“While many people sleeping rough were placed in emergency accommodation during lockdown, it is now vital that we build on this progress to bring #EveryoneInForGood, with people offered longer term housing and support to enable them to rebuild their lives. It will also be imperative to prevent new people from losing their homes, with a focus on tackling the root causes of homelessness.

“Whilst these statistics show a trend in the right direction, we cannot undo the work done so far. It is our concern that the imminent end to the ban on evictions will be detrimental to this aim.”