More households in Sheffield applying for homelessness support

A homelessness charity said the rising number of households facing homelessness in England is "appalling", and urged the Government to prioritise and effectively address this issue.

It comes a few weeks after the Government announced an additional £233 million would be spent in 2025-26 to tackle homelessness, taking total spending to £1 billion.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government figures show the number of households in England assessed for homelessness support rose by 10 per cent over the last year, reaching nearly 91,000 in the three months to June.

Of those, 83,240 were assessed as requiring 'a duty to prevent or relieve homelessness', meaning housing authorities must help prevent them from becoming homeless or support them in securing accommodation if they are already homeless.

In Sheffield, the increase has not met the same levels as the rest of the country.

948 households had an initial homelessness assessment from April to June. This was up from 933 in the same period in 2023, and led to 923 households requiring support - a rise of less than two per cent.

Balbir Kaur Chatrik, director of policy at Centrepoint, said: "It is simply appalling that tens of thousands of households are facing homelessness."

She urged the Government to build 90,000 social homes annually, but warned "it is not a quick fix".

She added a "cross-departmental strategy" is required to tackle rising homelessness.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Devastatingly we’re seeing the housing emergency continue to escalate, with more and more people showing up to their council facing homelessness, desperate for help."

She said soaring rents, increasing evictions, and the lack of affordable social homes are pushing people into homelessness, with councils struggling to meet the rising demand and people placed in insalubrious and unsuitable accommodation.

She added: "The only way to end homelessness for good is for the Government to build 90,000 genuinely affordable social homes a year for 10 years."

Ms Chatrik also highlighted the rising number of people being placed in temporary accommodation when approaching their local authority for support, adding the associated costs "have not been sustainable for years".

In England, 123,100 households were living in temporary accommodation as of June, including 757 in Sheffield.

This was up from 105,750 the year before.

Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the Housing Policy Committee for Sheffield City Council, previously told The Star: “Sadly, more families are experiencing homelessness in Sheffield and across the country. This has led to a big increase in the number of people in temporary accommodation.

“It’s bad for people and also for council finances so the Housing Policy Committee has treated it as a priority. The council recognises we’ve still got a lot of work to do in Sheffield to meet demand for council homes so that we don’t have to spend so much on housing people in temporary accommodation. We also want to focus as much as possible on helping people prevent homelessness wherever possible.”

Meanwhile, nearly 159,400 children faced homelessness in temporary accommodation nationally up 15 per cent from the year before, and the highest figure since records began in 2004.

Rushanara Ali, minister for homelessness, said: "It is a scandal that so many children are waking up in temporary accommodation.

"We have inherited the consequences of years of failure to grip the housing crisis with families facing the brutal uncertainty and trauma of homelessness.

"We are taking decisive action to get the homes we need built and our dedicated inter-ministerial group, led by the Deputy Prime Minister, is working at pace across government to get us back on track to end homelessness for good.

"We will deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and tackle one of the biggest drivers of homelessness by ending no fault evictions."