The number of English households living in temporary accommodation more than doubling between 2010 and 2023 from 48,000 to 112,000, the highest figure since records began.
Britain now has by far the highest rate of homelessness in the developed world, a record which shames us as a country.
Using data from the OECD, the Financial Times has produced a chart which shows the scale of homelessness in the country compared to other European countries, with the number of English households living in temporary accommodation more than doubling between 2010 and 2023 from 48,000 to 112,000, the highest figure since records began.
The FT reports: “The main form of homelessness is people living in temporary accommodation, the main driver is an inability to afford housing, and America is not even particularly close to the worst. The UK holds that ignominious title, with an astonishing one in 200 households living in emergency lodging outside the formal housing sector.”
The homelessness crisis has worsened in the UK in recent years due a failure to build enough homes, a fall in social homes and soaring rents and house prices.
A failure to build enough social housing has meant that those on low incomes are increasingly pushed into temporary accommodation or into the private rented sector. With increasing numbers of families turning to councils for temporary accommodation, figures from the LGA show that councils spent nearly £1.8bn on emergency accommodation in 2022/23.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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