Data shows sharp rise in households made homeless after leaving asylum accommodation

The department’s data also showed that there was an increase in households owed a prevention duty (up 92 per cent) or a relief duty (up 79.2 per cent) due to rent arrears from an increase in rent.

However, this comprises less than one per cent of households owed each type of duty.

Prevention duty

In total, 146,430 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and therefore owed a prevention duty in 2023-24. This represented a 3.1 per cent increase from 2022-23.

This rise was seen in both households with children (0.8 per cent increase) and households without children (4.6 per cent increase).

The number of households whose prevention duty ended in 2023-24 was 135,180, a 2.6 per cent rise from the previous year.

Year-on-year, the number of prevention duties ending increased by 1.6 per cent for households with children, and by 3.3 per cent for households without children.

“While the number of households with prevention duties ending has risen, the number of households securing accommodation at this stage has remained stable, meaning there has been a reduction in the proportion of households securing accommodation at this stage,” MHCLG said.

In 2023-24, 48.3 per cent of households with children, and 53.1 per cent of households without children, secured accommodation for six months or more at the end of their prevention duty.

This was a drop from 49.6 and 54.8 per cent respectively in 2022-23.

Relief duty

In total 178,560 households were initially assessed as being homeless and therefore owed a relief duty in 2023-24. This was a rise of 12.3 per cent from 2022-23.

This increase was seen in both households with children, with an 8.3 per cent increase, and households without children, up 13.7 per cent.

There were 199,120 households whose relief duty ended in 2023-24, a rise of 12.5 per cent compared to the previous year. The number of relief duties ending increased by 11.1 per cent for households with children and rose by 13.3 per cent for households without children.

MHCLG said: “While the number of households with relief duties ending has risen, the number of households securing accommodation at this stage has remained stable, meaning there has been a reduction in the proportion of households securing accommodation at this stage.”

In 2023-24, 25.2 per cent of households with children, and 35.6 per cent of households without children, secured accommodation for six months or more at the end of their relief duty.

Temporary accommodation

After increasing since 2021-22, the number of households reported in temporary accommodation reached 117,450 on 31 March 2024, a record high since the data series began in 1998.

The most common length of time for households with children to be in temporary accommodation was less than six months, representing 17,430 (23.4 per cent) of households with children.

This was followed by 16,690 households with children in temporary accommodation for two to five years, representing over a fifth (22.8 per cent) of households with children. Another 16,790 (or 22.5 per cent) of households with children in temporary accommodation had been there for five years or more.

In addition, the most common length of time for households without children to stay in temporary accommodation was less than six months, representing 16,750 or 39 per cent of single households in temporary accommodation.