Homelessness
Published
1. Main facts and figures
- in the year ending in March 2023, 298,430 households in England qualified for help from their local authority for homelessness – up by 18,960 (6.8%) on the previous year
- 67.2% of ‘lead applicants’ (people making homeless applications on behalf of households) were white, 10.2% were black, and 6.4% were Asian
- out of all regions, London had the highest number of households that qualified for help (57,150)
- 30.0% of lead applicants in London were white, compared with 85.7% in the North East – the lowest and highest percentages out of all regions for white lead applicants
- in the 2 years to March 2023, the number of lead applicants in the ‘other’ ethnic group went up by 29% – the biggest percentage increase out of all ethnic groups
Further research:
A 2022 report by Heriot-Watt University (PDF opens in a new window or tab) looked at the high levels of homelessness for ethnic minority groups in the UK. It found that discrimination in housing and other areas was linked to a higher risk of homelessness, even taking into account other factors such as poverty. The link was particularly strong for black households.
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the number and percentage of households in England that qualified for help from their local authority to prevent or relieve homelessness (sometimes known as ‘being owed a statutory homelessness duty’), by the ethnic group of the lead applicant. The lead applicant is the person who makes the homeless application on behalf of the household. A household can be made up of one or more people.
Local authorities are legally required to help households that have either become homeless or are threatened with homelessness.
Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1 decimal place. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.
Not included in the data
The data does not include households that:
- did not ask their local authority for help
- did not meet eligibility criteria regarding UK residence and immigration status
Homelessness and ethnicity data is not shown for local authorities:
- with fewer than 5 households it has a duty to house – this is to protect people’s confidentiality
- that did not submit or publish data for at least one 3-month period in the financial year
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the following ethnic groups:
- Asian
- black
- mixed
- white
- other
Each household’s ethnicity is the ethnic group of the person making the homelessness application (the ‘lead applicant’). Ethnicity was not known for 9.2% of lead applicants.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
In the data file
Download the data for:
- unrounded figures
- estimates for 18 individual ethnic groups, by local authority
3. By ethnicity over time
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | 2020/21 % | 2020/21 Number | 2021/22 % | 2021/22 Number | 2022/23 % | 2022/23 Number |
| All | 100.0 | 270,560 | 100.0 | 279,470 | 100.0 | 298,430 |
| Asian | 5.6 | 15,140 | 6.1 | 17,100 | 6.4 | 19,030 |
| Black | 9.8 | 26,390 | 10.1 | 28,350 | 10.2 | 30,540 |
| Mixed | 3.2 | 8,610 | 3.3 | 9,100 | 3.2 | 9,560 |
| White | 69.7 | 188,680 | 68.1 | 190,240 | 67.2 | 200,410 |
| Other | 3.3 | 8,800 | 3.4 | 9,390 | 3.8 | 11,350 |
| Unknown | 8.5 | 22,950 | 9.0 | 25,290 | 9.2 | 27,540 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Homelessness By ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that, in the year ending in March 2023:
- 298,430 households qualified for help from their local authority for homelessness – up by 18,960 compared with the previous year
- 67.2% of ‘lead applicants’ (people making homeless applications on behalf of households) were white, 10.2% were black, 6.4% were Asian, 3.2% were from a mixed ethnic background and 3.8% were from the other ethnic group
In the 2 years to March 2023:
- the number of households that qualified for help went up in every ethnic group
- the number of white lead applicants went up by 11,730 – the biggest increase by number out of all ethnic groups
- the number of lead applicants in the ‘other’ ethnic group went up by 29% – the biggest percentage increase out of all ethnic groups
- the percentage of lead applicants who were white went down from 69.7% to 67.2%
4. By ethnicity and area
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | Unknown | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Asian % | Asian Number | Black % | Black Number | Mixed % | Mixed Number | White % | White Number | Other % | Other Number | Unknown % | Unknown Number |
| England | 6.4 | 19,030 | 10.2 | 30,540 | 3.2 | 9,560 | 67.2 | 200,410 | 3.8 | 11,350 | 9.2 | 27,540 |
| London | 11.8 | 6,740 | 28.0 | 15,990 | 6.0 | 3,450 | 30.0 | 17,170 | 7.9 | 4,500 | 16.3 | 9,310 |
| Rest of England | 5.1 | 12,290 | 6.0 | 14,550 | 2.5 | 6,110 | 75.9 | 183,240 | 2.8 | 6,860 | 7.6 | 18,230 |
| East Midlands | 5.6 | 1,270 | 6.3 | 1,420 | 2.7 | 600 | 77.0 | 17,400 | 2.6 | 590 | 5.8 | 1,300 |
| East of England | 4.5 | 1,300 | 6.8 | 1,980 | 3.1 | 900 | 74.9 | 21,710 | 2.1 | 620 | 8.5 | 2,470 |
| North East | 2.7 | 500 | 2.3 | 430 | 1.0 | 190 | 85.7 | 15,720 | 2.6 | 480 | 5.6 | 1,020 |
| North West | 5.9 | 2,670 | 6.2 | 2,790 | 2.4 | 1,080 | 75.5 | 33,910 | 3.8 | 1,710 | 6.2 | 2,770 |
| South East | 4.4 | 1,740 | 6.0 | 2,380 | 2.4 | 970 | 78.3 | 31,180 | 2.2 | 890 | 6.7 | 2,680 |
| South West | 1.6 | 460 | 3.6 | 1,020 | 1.9 | 540 | 82.4 | 23,070 | 1.5 | 410 | 8.9 | 2,490 |
| West Midlands | 8.3 | 2,380 | 10.0 | 2,860 | 4.0 | 1,140 | 60.6 | 17,290 | 3.8 | 1,070 | 13.3 | 3,780 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 6.5 | 1,970 | 5.5 | 1,660 | 2.3 | 700 | 76.3 | 22,970 | 3.6 | 1,090 | 5.7 | 1,720 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Homelessness By ethnicity and area Summary
This data shows that:
- out of all regions, London had the highest number of households that qualified for help from their local authority for homelessness (57,150)
- London had the lowest percentage of white lead applicants (30.0%), and the highest percentage from Asian (11.8%), black (28.0%), mixed (6.0%) and ‘other’ (7.9%) ethnic groups
- outside of London, 75.9% of lead applicants were white, 6.0% were black, 5.1% were Asian, 2.5% were from the mixed ethnic group and 2.8% were from the ‘other’ ethnic group
- the North East had the highest percentage of white lead applicants (85.7%)
- for every 1,000 households, 15.7 qualified for help for homelessness in London and 11.8 in the rest of England combined
5. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Note on corrections or updates
2022/23 data is provisional, 2020/21 and 2021/21 data is revised
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Homelessness statistics monitor trends in statutory homelessness, rough sleeping and homelessness prevention and relief.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, value, value_type, numerator, denominator