In 2019-20, 36,855 homeless applications were made, and 31,333 households were assessed as homeless by their local authority. This equates to a household losing their home every 17 minutes.


The number of homeless applications has increased over the past 3 years. Applications had been going down due to the renewed preventative approach adopted by local authorities in the form of housing options; but this new rise tells us that the Housing Options approach is no longer enough. (Housing options statistics are covered in more detail below). There is an urgent need to tackle the underlying drivers of homelessness.  
