Jump To Content
Search Site

FAQS

What is homelessness?

·         Homelessness is the problem faced by people who lack a secure place that they are entitled to live in. It is a problem throughout the UK, although it is more prevalent in urban centres. By far the biggest concentration of homelessness can be found in the London area.

·         Homelessness is about more than rooflessness. A home is not just a physical space: it provides roots, identity, security, a sense of belonging and a place of emotional wellbeing. Homelessness is about the loss of these.

how do homeless women survive

• Homeless women are particularly isolated and cut off from services and assistance.

• Crisis research shows that whilst 60 per cent of homeless women have slept rough, only 12 per cent had engaged with street outreach teams. 40 per cent of homeless women reported having been excluded from a service and 10 per cent were not using any service. 20 per cent had become homeless to escape violence from someone they knew yet less than a third of woman were accepted for housing by local authorities.

Who are the hidden homeless?

• Official statistics underestimate total levels of homelessness - not everyone who is homeless and approaches their local authority receives support or accommodation, and many others are not aware of their entitlements or do not approach a local authority as they know they will not be helped. The majority of those excluded from official statistics are single – they are the ‘hidden homeless’.

• Crisis estimates that there are around 400,000 such ‘hidden homeless’ people in Great Britain. They exist out of sight in hostels and refuges, bed and breakfasts, squats, unsatisfactory or overcrowded accommodation, and on the floors or sofas of friends and families. The fact that the majority do not sleep rough means that they are all too often invisible to the public and are often not regarded as a priority for decision makers.

• There are estimated to be between 40,000 and 50,000 people in hostels and other supported accommodation for homeless people in England – some night-by-night shelters, others people may stay in for six months to two years or longer, but one in five hostel residents first set foot in a hostel over a decade ago.

Homelessness is bigger than rough sleeping

• The problem of homelessness is much bigger than rough sleeping. As the Government itself stated in a report of 2003 “the vast majority of homeless people are actually families or single people who are not literally sleeping on the streets but living with relatives and friends or in temporary accommodation”.

• The Government publishes regular homelessness statistics and in 2007 Local Authorities in England accepted 64,970 households (not people) as owed the main homelessness duty to be housed. But another 34,534 approached their local authority and whilst recognized as homeless they were not considered eligible for housing under the restrictive terms of the homelessness legislation.

How many rough (street) sleepers are there?

·         Through Government and the voluntary sector working together the numbers have reduced substantially from when they were around 2000 in the 1990s.

·         The Government’s official estimate for 2008 is that there are about 500 people sleeping rough on any single night in England, half of these are in Greater London.

·         However, one-night counts do not reflect the realities of the numbers sleeping rough - agencies report that in London alone around 3000 people slept rough at some point over the last year.

·         Of rough sleepers in London: 88 per cent are male, 65 per cent are aged 26-45 years and 77 per cent are white. 12 per cent of rough sleepers in London have been in care, six per cent have been in the armed forces and 43 per cent have been in prison.

·         Following campaigning by Crisis, this year the Government launched a new Rough Sleeping Strategy which included a commitment to end rough sleeping by 2012.