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Two in five in temporary accommodation unable to move on due to lack of social housing
A lack of social housing is the main reason people using homelessness services are not able to move from temporary accommodation to independent living, new research has found.
A survey of 295 English homeless accommodation providers and 61 day centres by Homeless Link, shared with Inside Housing, showed that two in five people in homelessness accommodation were “ready to move on but can’t”.
Among the providers, they reported 4,243 people who are waiting to move on.
Readiness to move on tends to be when a person and their support worker have assessed they can maintain an independent tenancy, potentially still with some level of support, and their other support needs have been addressed, the group said.
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The report, Homeless Link’s 2022 review of support for single homeless people, found that of respondents ready to move on, over half had been waiting six months or longer.
The researchers said this was causing a “logjam” in support for new people becoming homeless.
The main obstacle to independent living, Homeless Link said, was housing affordability, with 87% citing a lack of social housing and 65% blaming a lack of private rented accommodation available at Local Housing Allowance rates.
Across England, homelessness accommodation providers in the North East were most likely to have moved people into social housing (86%), followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (83%).
The report concluded that “the impact of lack of affordable housing, both social housing and private rented at Local Housing Allowance rates is… evident in the 2022 Annual Review”.
Homeless Link lent its backing to Inside Housing’s new campaign, Build Social, which is calling for political parties to commit to the delivery of 90,000 social homes a year in England over the next decade.
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: “Building more social homes is an absolutely essential part of tackling homelessness. Homeless Link supports the targets in the Build Social campaign and calls on all the political parties to include this ambition in their election manifestos.”
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