Homelessness

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to homelessness in Hull including local strategic need and service provision. Information on the impact of Housing on health and data on housing type and household composition is covered within the Health and Wellbeing Influences section. A needs assessment was completed in Hull during 2023 for people with multiple unmet needs which included people who were homeless. The report – which was finalised in 2024 – is available within Multiple Unmet Needs under Vulnerable Groups.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

Headlines

• Homelessness describes a variety of circumstances: people who are roofless (rough sleeping), those living informally with friends or acquaintances (for instance, “sofa surfing”) as well as those threatened with the loss of, or are unable to continue with, their current accommodation. The term also covers those who are living in temporary accommodation, for instance, hostels.
• A household is considered statutorily homeless if a local authority decides that they do not have a legal right to occupy accommodation that is accessible, physically available and which would be reasonable for the household to continue to live in.
• Homelessness is more likely to occur in populations who already experience wider inequalities, for instance, those experiencing financial hardship.
• The physical and mental health needs of people that are at risk of homelessness is likely to be worse than the general population. The prevalence of behavioural and lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, poor diet, drugs and alcohol are also higher. Those who are homeless repeatedly are also significantly more likely to use acute health services more frequently than the general population.
• Homelessness severely affects life expectancy. In England and Wales the average age of death of a homeless person is 45 for men and 43 for women, compared to 76 and 81 years amongst the general population.
• The rate of households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act is twice as high as England and the Yorkshire and Humber region for 2021/22, although the number of households in temporary accommodation is similar to the regional average and one-quarter of the rate for England. With temporary legal protection during the pandemic, the number of households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act reduced between 2019/20 and 2020/21, but following removal of that protection, the numbers increased in 2021/22 to levels higher than 2019/20. It is likely that the numbers are even higher for 2022/23, but the information is not presented for Hull.
• The waiting lists for accommodation are currently high in Hull with demand significantly outstripping supply.
• It was estimated that there were 39 rough sleepers in Hull during the Autumn rough sleeping (snapshot) undertaken in October 2023. This is a sharp increase from October 2022 when it was estimated that there were 10 rough sleepers in Hull. However, these figures do not include the ‘hidden homeless’ (for instance, those who were “sofa surfing” with friends and family) so is likely to be an underestimate of the true picture of need.
• In 2021, based on local information, there are 40-60 people with multiple unmet needs who are at risk of being homeless but who are reluctant to engage with services and are not eligible for re-housing due to past tenancy history or other barriers.
• It is likely due to changes in employment circumstances throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, that many households have fallen into arrears with rent and mortgage payments, and that the impact of the pandemic on homelessness is likely to be felt for a considerable time. Furthermore, immediately following the pandemic, the increased cost of living crisis is having a significant negative impact on people’s ability to maintain their accommodation.
• Hull’s Preventing Homeless Strategy and action plan has two key priorities improving access to housing and preventing homelessness, and relieving homelessness and preventing rough sleeping. 
• The quarterly Preventing Homelessness Focus Group meetings provides a multi-agency forum for partners to work jointly on preventing homelessness and developing appropriate services and support for people who are homeless. 

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

People described as homeless is anyone sleeping rough (or with ‘no fixed abode’) or under imminent threat of losing, or unable to continue with, their current accommodation.

The Homelessness Reduction Act introduced new duties which means that significantly more households are being provided with a statutory service by local housing authorities than before the Act came into force in April 2018. The Homeless Reduction Act introduced new prevention and relief duties, that are owed to all eligible households who are homeless or threatened with becoming homeless, including those single adult households who do not have ‘priority need’ under the legislation.

Poor health can both contribute to, and result from, homelessness and homelessness in early years can damage a child’s life chances. The physical and mental health needs of people are homeless is much worse than the general population, and they attend A&E much more frequently and use four times as many acute hospital services than the general population, with a high cost to the NHS and public services. The prevalence of behavioural and lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, poor diet, drugs and alcohol are also higher than in the general population. From the Office for National Statistics, the average age at death of a homeless person was 45 years for males and 43 years for females in 2018; compared to 76 years for men and 81 years for women amongst the general population.

Homelessness is more likely in populations who already experience wider inequalities, for example, those with mental health or substance treatment needs, experiencing domestic abuse, involved with criminal justice system and those with multiple and complex needs, Gypsies and Travellers, sex workers, and migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers.

Homelessness is bad for all our health, and wealth. Homelessness is a measure of our collective success, or otherwise, in reducing inequalities.

The Hull Picture

Homeless

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips includes information on the numbers of homeless households.

The number of households owed a prevention or relief duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act, during the financial year. Prevention duties include any activities aimed at preventing a household threatened with homelessness within 56 days from becoming homeless. Relief duties are owed to households that are already homeless and require help to secure settled accommodation. The figures all relate to the crude rate per 1,000 estimated households.

The rate of homeless households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act in Hull is not available for 2022/23, but was more than twice as high as England and the Yorkshire and Humber region for 2021/22.

Between 2019/20 and 2020/21, the number of households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act reduced in Hull from 2,969 to 2,530 households, but there has been a relatively large increase to 3,299 households in 2021/22.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 provided protection to social and private tenants by delaying when landlords can evict tenants in certain situations. The provisions in the Act increased the notice periods landlords were required to provide to tenants when seeking possession of a residential property between 26 March 2020 and 30 September 2021. Between 1 June 2021 and 30 September 2021, notice periods were required to be at least four months except in the most serious cases such as egregious rent arrears or anti-social behaviour. From 1 October 2021, all notice periods returned to the pre-pandemic position. This means the minimum period of notice must be given.

As well as the impact of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis has impacted greatly on household finances, with increasing numbers of households falling behind on rent and mortgages in Hull which impacts on homelessness.

This increased protection to tenants is likely to be a contributory factor to the reduction in the number of households facing homelessness in Hull during 2020/21, although when such protections did not exist combined with the cost of living crisis, the numbers have increased markedly in Hull. Furthermore, it is likely that the numbers are even higher for 2022/23.

Information is also given for homeless households with dependent children, and rates for 2021/22 are twice as high in Hull as England.

Dependent children are those who are aged under 18 years and living at home, but an 18 year old can also count as dependent if they’re in full time education or can’t support themselves for other reasons, and they live at home.

The pattern is similar for households with dependent children, with the numbers decreasing between 2019/20 and 2020/21 due to increased protection during the pandemic, and have increased sharply between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

There were 871 households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act among households with dependent children in Hull for 2021/22, and it it likely that the figure for 2022/23 is even higher.

The rates of homelessness for households where the main applicant was aged 16-24 years was almost three times higher in Hull compared to England, and the rate twice as high in Hull among households where the main applicant was aged 55+ years for 2021/22.

There were 624 households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act among households where the main applicant was aged 16-24 years in Hull for 2020/21 which was a reduction from 768 since the previous year. For 2021/22, the number returned to the similar number to that observed prior to the pandemic.

There were 163 households owed a duty under the Homeless Reduction Act among households where the main applicant was aged 55+ years in Hull for 2020/21 which was a slight reduction from 174 since the previous year. However, similar to most other measures, the numbers increased for 2021/22 to 232 households.

The number of homeless households in temporary accommodation is four times lower and significantly lower than England, although the same as the region with 1.0 homeless households in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households in Hull.

Between 2019/20 and 2022/23, the rate of homeless households in Hull in temporary accommodation doubled from 0.4 to 1.0 per 1,000 households with 115 homeless households in temporary accommodation in 2022/23. It is possible that this increase was a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis. There was also an increase of a similar magnitude for Yorkshire and Humber, although the increase was less marked for England which has a much higher rate overall.

People Sleeping Rough

An annual survey is undertaken in autumn to count the number of people sleeping rough in each local authority. The survey takes place on a single date chosen by the local authority between 1 October and 30 November. The snapshot takes place in the autumn, rather than the summer where numbers are likely to be higher due to the warmer temperatures, or winter, where numbers may be lower as there are more temporary night shelters set up to ensure people do not sleep on the streets in very cold weather.

Year	Estimated number sleeping rough in Hull	Yorkshire and the Humber region	England
2010	7	115	1,768
2011	15	150	2,181
2012	10	157	2,309
2013	13	129	2,414
2014	10	126	2,744
2015	23	160	3,569
2016	15	172	4,134
2017	28	207	4,751
2018	26	246	4,677
2019	18	242	4,266
2020	19	181	2,688
2021	11	166	2,443
2022	10	170	3,069
2023	39	270	3,898

In 2023, 31 of the rough sleepers surveyed in Hull were male and eight were female, 30 were from the UK, seven were from EU countries, one was from a non-EU country, and the nationality of one person was unknown. None were aged under 18 years of age, three were aged 18-25 years, 35 were aged 26+ years, and age was unknown for one person. Between 2018 and 2022 in Hull, the estimated the number of rough sleepers on the chosen night was based on an evidence-based estimate meeting including a spotlight count in specific areas.

During the COVID19 pandemic moves were made to reduce the number of people sleeping rough. Nationally, in 2019, the annual survey identified 4,266 rough sleepers. This decreased to 2,688 in 2020, decreasing further to 2,443 in 2021, but increasing to 3,069 in 2022. Hull and the Yorkshire and the Humber region did not follow this trend and whilst levels decreased during the COVID19 pandemic, the survey illustrated relatively small changes between 2021 and 2022. However, for both Hull and the region there have been large increases between 2022 and 2023. In Hull, the William Booth House accommodation has closed which could have an influence.

Unsurprisingly London has the highest proportion of rough sleepers, with 29% of all rough sleepers in England being recorded there. Westminster is the local authority with the highest number of rough sleepers – 277 were recorded during the most recent survey.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities produced a publicly accessible dashboard for the autumn 2022 rough sleeping snapshot survey.

Hidden Homeless

Official figures do not show the ‘hidden homeless’ – people staying temporarily with family or friends, living in squats or other insecure accommodation. The charity Crisis estimate about 62% of single homeless are potentially hidden from ‘official’ numbers.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Cost of Living Crisis on Homelessness

The local authority has been involved in relocating many homeless people from hostels into other temporary accommodation where they were able to self-isolate from other residents where necessary.

Due to the Coronavirus Act 2020 and the increased notice required to provide to tenants when seeking possession of residential property between March 2020 and September 2021, the number of homeless households in Hull decreased between 2019/20 and 2020/21.

However, it is likely due to changes in employment circumstances, that many households have fallen into arrears with rent and mortgage payments or have fallen even more into arrears than they had been prior to the pandemic. Thus the impact of the pandemic on homelessness is likely to be felt for a considerable time.

Following on from the pandemic, the increased cost of energy, food and other products are having a significant negative impact on people’s ability to maintain their accommodation.

Strategic Need and Service Provision

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (in place since April 2018) requires local authorities to undertake a more preventative approach to homelessness and also places a duty on other public agencies to make homelessness referrals. It extends the period within which people are defined as ‘threatened with homelessness’ so that help is provided earlier, and gives a duty to local authorities to assess every eligible applicant’s case and agree a personalised housing plan. The Act also extends the duty to provide an advisory service; to ‘help to secure’ accommodation and extends the ‘prevention duty’.

The launch in 2018 of the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy released funding streams, eg. Rough Sleeping Initiative, Rapid Rehousing Pathway, Care Leavers at Risk of Rough Sleeping and a consultation on the use of ‘Homelessness Reduction Boards’.

Hull’s Homelessness Prevention Strategy 2017 and action plan has two key priorities: (i) improving access to housing and preventing homelessness, and (ii) relieving homelessness and preventing rough sleeping. The strategy is due to be updated in Autumn 2022.

Hull City Council runs quarterly Preventing Homelessness Focus Group meetings which provide opportunities for multi-agency discussions on how partners can work together with the Council to prevent homelessness and develop appropriate services and support for people who are homeless. 

The key to preventing rough sleeping is making best use of Housing Related Support and expanding/enhancing the outreach offer to include support with specialists in mental health and substance use. The Improving Outcomes Group brings together enforcement activity to tackle antisocial behaviour, begging and crime often associated with rough sleeping.

To respond specifically to the health needs of homeless people, Hull has a homelessness health service (provided by Modality) which focuses on people who are homeless and rough sleepers. It provides a combined a primary care inclusion service and hospital discharge service the latter of which seeks to resolve housing issues on admission to hospital/earlier in the person’s hospital treatment instead of at discharge, so that ongoing healthcare needs can be better met by ensuring appropriate onward housing is in place.

Resources

Live tables on homelessness. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

The Impact on Health of Homelessness – A Guide for Local Authorities (LGA 2017)

Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales: ONS 2018

PHE Health Matters: Rough Sleeping (Updated Feb 2020)

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 18 March 2024.

This page is due to be updated / checked in February 2025.