Sheffield strategy to tackle homelessness starting to see positive results
Work to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in Sheffield is starting to see positive results.
Reductions in the number of people having to move to temporary accommodation including B&Bs has decreased since 2024, as has the number of long-term rough sleepers in the city.
The figures were welcomed by a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s housing policy committee last Thursday (October 23).
A report to the committee on the progress of a five-year homelessness prevention action plan agreed in 2023 said that the number of households that the council has a duty to help stood at 3,938 in 2023/24. The figure was reduced by 13.6% in 2024/25.
The plan has seen the council collaborating with outside housing and charity organisations. Positive actions include early prevention work with people at risk of becoming homeless.
The main reasons for becoming homeless are being asked to move out by family or friends, escaping domestic abuse or losing private rented accommodation.
Improvement
A newer trend involves asylum seekers or refugees who lose their Home Office accommodation when they gain the right to stay here.
The report said: “While there remains scope for further improvement, 35.8% of those households were successfully prevented from becoming homeless, which is an increase from the previous year.
“Of the cases where homelessness was prevented, 76.9% secured alternative accommodation, and 23.1% were supported to remain in their existing homes.
“This represents an improvement from 2023/24, demonstrating we are providing earlier assistance and reducing the need for people to move due to crisis.”
Temporary accommodation placements reduced from a peak of 756 in June 2024 to 694 by March 2025, while the number of households in B&B accommodation has gone down by 29%.
The number of families with children in B&B accommodation has decreased by 65% following work by the council to provide more alternatives. The council aims to completely phase out using B&Bs for families by 2026-7.
Entrenched
According to the report, the number of people sleeping rough increased from 15 in 2022 to 31 in 2023 and 52 in 2024.
However, initiatives introduced under the plan have reduced the proportion of long-term rough sleepers from a high of 59% of all cases in April 2024 to the current level of 36%.
Council service manager for commissioning and partnerships, Laura Costa, said a lot of work has taken place to help people to change “entrenched patterns” of sleeping rough.
Committee chair Coun Douglas Johnson said: “Homelessness is still a persistent challenge in Sheffield, as it is everywhere. The figures here show real inroads into how the council is trying to deal with that.”