Campaigning charity Shelter claims there are at least 354,000 people in England, including 161,500 children, spending Christmas without a home. 

The charity’s figures are above those issued by the government and it says they come from a mix of  official homelessness figures and responses to Freedom of Information requests.

As a result Shelter claims that one in 160 people in England are now homeless. This is up from one in 182 in 2023.

It adds that some 326,000 people are in temporary accommodation (17% increase in one year) – most of whom are in families with children. And 3,900 people are sleeping rough on any given night (10% increase), while a further 16,600 single people in hostels or other homeless accommodation.

The charity goes on to say: “Record private rents combined with inadequate housing benefit, rising evictions and a lack of genuinely affordable social homes has resulted in homelessness soaring. Families who become homeless are usually placed in temporary accommodation by their local council, but all too often this accommodation is far from ‘temporary’, as the government’s own data shows that almost half (45%) of families have been there for over two years.“

And Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter who shortly leaves her post, says: “As the country prepares to wind down and celebrate the festive season in our homes, it’s unimaginable that 354,000 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 England, 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.”

Shelter’s research looks at regions and says London comes out worst, with one in 47 people homeless. This has risen 12% in a year, to a total of 187,000 people. Newham has the highest rate with one in 18 people homeless.

Outside of London, Slough is the local authority with the highest rates of homelessness with one in 51 people homeless, followed by Luton with one in 57 homeless and Manchester where one in 61 are homeless.  The North East has the biggest annual increase of 53%, from 1,500 people to 2,300 people. 

The charity claims its analysis is “the most comprehensive overview of recorded homelessness in England” but insist the true figure is likely to be higher as some types of homelessness, like sofa-surfing, go unrecorded.