How many people sleep rough in England?

An estimated 4,793 people were sleeping rough in England on a single night in autumn 2025, according to MHCLG's Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2025, published 26 February 2026. It was the highest figure since the snapshot approach began in 2010, above the previous peak of 4,751 in 2017. London and the South East accounted for 43%.

Each council counts or estimates the number of people sleeping rough on one typical night between 1 October and 30 November, so the snapshot shows people seen on that night, not everyone who sleeps rough over a year. Records that track people over a period, such as monthly management information and London's CHAIN database, give larger totals. Wales publishes monthly figures, and Scotland and Northern Ireland measure rough sleeping in other ways.

Official sources: Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2025 · Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping (Wales)

The latest figure

The newest value is at Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). More on it: Households in temporary accommodation (England).

When is the next figure out?

Quarterly, about four to five months after the snapshot date. January to March 2026 was published on 13 August 2026; April to June 2026 is provisionally due on 29 October 2026. The GOV.UK Content API lists the .ods tables for each release; each quarter has a new page URL

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Temporary accommodation
  Housing that councils provide to homeless households while they wait for a settled home, such as hostels, bed and breakfasts or leased flats.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Rate per 100,000
  The number of events divided by the population and multiplied by 100,000, so areas of different sizes can be compared on a like-for-like basis.
• Year-on-year change
  The change between a figure for one period and the same period twelve months earlier, such as March this year compared with March last year.
• Headline figure
  The main summary number that a statistical release leads with, such as annual CPI inflation or quarterly GDP growth. Other measures in the same release can tell a different story.

Where the figures come from

• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics and Stat-Xplore
  Where to find DWP figures on Universal Credit, PIP, State Pension and Pension Credit, how to build a Stat-Xplore table and use the free Open Data API.
• MHCLG housing and homelessness statistics (with MoJ possessions and devolved equivalents)
  Official figures on temporary accommodation, rough sleeping, waiting lists, social lettings, evictions and tenure in England and the rest of the UK.

Related questions

• How many people are homeless in England?
• How many households are in temporary accommodation in England?
• How many evictions and repossessions are there in England and Wales?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about homelessness, social housing and renting: all Homelessness, social housing and renting questions.