Homelessness Sheffield: Figures reveal extent of city's 'unimaginable' homeless problem
Figures released by a prominent charity have revealed the extent of Sheffield’s homeless problem.
Sheffield has more people homeless than anywhere else in Yorkshire, and over 30 rough sleepers, according to the charity Shelter.
And it says the numbers have increased in Yorkshire as a whole over the last 12 months
Shelter says it has looked at official homelessness figures and responses to Freedom of Information requests, revealing that in Sheffield 31 people are sleeping rough on any given night, and 1,482 are living in temporary accommodation - most of whom are families with children.
Of the Sheffield figure, 581 of those included are children, says the charity.
Sheffield has the highest number of people without a home in Yorkshire, with around 1,500 people homeless, followed by Kirklees where 1,200 people are homeless and Doncaster with 884 people.
Shelter, which is running an appeal over Chistmas, at shelter.org.uk/WinterAppeal, says record private rents combined with ‘inadequate housing benefit, rising evictions and a lack of genuinely affordable social homes’ has resulted in homelessness soaring across the country.
Families who become homeless are usually placed in temporary accommodation by the council, but Shelter says all too often this accommodation is far from ‘temporary’, adding the government’s own data shows that almost half (45 per cent) of families in England have been there for over two years.
Tim Renshaw, chief executive of the Cathedral Archer Project in Sheffield, which runs services designed to help people move from being street homeless to a settled life, said the figure for rough sleepers was now thought to be higher than the figures in the survey, which he says were based on an assessment in October 2023.
He said: “The figure is higher than that now at any given time. They did the national street count for 2024 in October, and we will know what that number was in 2025. I think expectations are that the figure will now be in the late 40s or low 50s.
“It has increased and a lot of work in Sheffield is going on to try to address things like those who are entrenched rough sleepers, who have been sleeping rough for quite some time. A lot of planning in the city is trying to reverse that increasing trend, knowing resources in terms of accommodation is still scarce.
We know the low levels of social housing available is a big factor
“We know the low levels of social housing available is a big factor. Supported accommodation remains full.”
He said they wanted to get the figures back down the the low levels that the city had seen in 2008-09.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “As the country prepares to wind down and celebrate the festive season in our homes, it’s unimaginable that almost 8,600 people in Yorkshire and the Humber will spend this winter homeless - many of them forced to shiver on the wet streets or in a mouldy hostel room with their entire family.
“Across Yorkshire and the Humber, extortionate private rents combined with a dire lack of genuinely affordable social homes is trapping more and more people in homelessness. Parents are spending sleepless nights worrying about their children growing up in cramped and often damaging temporary accommodation, as weeks and months turn into years without somewhere secure for them to call home.
“Until the government builds the social homes needed to end the housing emergency for good, Shelter will be there for people facing the devastation of homelessness. But we cannot do it without the help of the public – your donations allow us to provide emergency help for those facing a night on the streets as well as give vital, expert advice and help to people to keep their homes.”
The charity says some types of homelessness, like sofa-surfing, go unrecorded.
Sheffield Council was approached for comment.