How many people are homeless in England?

MHCLG publishes quarterly statutory homelessness statistics, including the number of households in temporary accommodation and the number of children in them. A separate annual rough sleeping snapshot counts people sleeping rough on one night each autumn.

These measure different things: most homeless households are in temporary accommodation, not on the street. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their own figures.

Official sources: Homelessness statistics

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: UK average private rent.

When is the next figure out?

Monthly, usually a Wednesday in the middle of the month, 7am, in the ONS Private rent and house prices bulletin; next release 21 October 2026. No ONS time-series API ID: the latest .xlsx link must be read from the dataset page, whose URL stays fixed

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.
• Main housing duty
  The legal duty on an English council to secure accommodation for a homeless household that is eligible, in priority need and not intentionally homeless.
• Provisional figures
  Early estimates published before all data are in, so users get timely figures. They are expected to be updated when later data arrive.
• Mean
  The total of all values divided by how many there are. Often what people mean by 'average', it can be pulled up or down by a few extreme values.
• 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.
• CPIH
  The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs. The ONS's lead measure of consumer price inflation, it adds housing costs and council tax to CPI.

Where the figures come from

• UK tax rates, allowances and taxpayer statistics (GOV.UK, HMRC, OBR, Revenue Scotland and Welsh Revenue Authority)
  Where to check official UK income tax bands, National Insurance, VAT, stamp duty, inheritance tax and taxpayer numbers, and how to test tax claims.
• HM Land Registry Price Paid Data and the UK House Price Index
  How to use HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, the UK House Price Index and ONS private rent statistics to check claims about house prices and rents.
• Local government finance statistics (MHCLG, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
  Where to find official council spending, council tax, finance settlement, debt and audit data for England, plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Related questions

• How many homes are built each year in England?
• How do I find sold house prices?
• How much are rents rising in the UK?

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 housing and house prices: all Housing and house prices questions.