When people think of homelessness, they often picture someone bedding down on a pavement or sheltering in a doorway. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Most people experiencing homelessness will not be on the streets. They will have a roof over their heads, but not a home to build a life and flourish.
If we only look for what’s visible, we ignore the reality facing the majority of people who are homeless. To end homelessness, we must understand it fully. That means recognising the different ways it shows up and refusing to let any of them be overlooked.
Rough sleeping
At bus stops. Under bridges. In parks. In train stations. Curled up in shop doorways as the city moves around them. This is where people sleep when there’s nowhere else to go.
It might be someone’s first night on the streets – lost, cold, terrified. Or it might be another night in a long stretch of many weeks, months – sometimes even years. Each night takes something from them: health, safety, hope. It’s brutal.
And behind every sleeping bag on a pavement is a story of systems that failed to catch someone before they fell.
The true scale of rough sleeping in England is unknown. The Government’s Rough Sleeping Snapshot reported that in March 2025, 7,718 people were sleeping rough in England. But that figure comes from a one-night count – what local councils see on a single night – a limited lens on a much bigger crisis.
In London, we have a more accurate picture of rough sleeping through the CHAIN database.
- Between April 2024 and March 2025, 13,231 people spent at least one night on London’s streets. This is 75% higher than the 7,581 people seen rough sleeping ten years ago.
- 8,396 people were recorded as sleeping rough for the first time in 2024/25, up from 7,974 in the previous year – a 5% increase.
- Nearly half (45%) of people sleeping rough in the UK are in London and the South East of England.
Women
Official statistics say women make up 15% of rough sleepers. But we know that figure is dangerously wrong.
Women are too often missed by outreach teams, by data, and by the services that are supposed to support them. They hide to survive. Behind bins. In stairwells. On night buses. Because what’s out there on the streets isn’t just unsafe – it’s life-threatening. So we set out to change that…
In 2022, we led the UK’s first Women’s Rough Sleeping Census in London and published Making Women Count. It was the first real attempt to uncover the true scale of women’s homelessness.
Building on that research:
- In 2023, we expanded the count to 41 local authorities across England and found that nine times as many women could be sleeping rough as the Government’s figures suggest.
- In 2024, we took it a step further, reaching 88 local authorities. This time, we found that ten times as many women could be sleeping rough across England as official statistics show.
This isn’t just better data – it’s a better understanding of reality. Our methods are trauma-informed, shaped by lived experience, and rooted in the truth that women’s homelessness often looks different.
It’s hidden. It’s dangerous. And it’s deeply shaped by near-universal experiences of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Statutory homelessness
A person or family is statutorily homeless if they are all of the following:
- Legally defined as homeless
- In priority need
- Not ‘intentionally’ responsible for their homelessness.
Under the Homelessness Reduction Act, local housing authorities must find a safe and secure home for anyone who meets the above criteria. This is known as the main homelessness duty.
Every year, tens of thousands of Londoners turn to their local council for support. When someone is owed the main homelessness duty, the council must act. They may offer emergency or temporary accommodation – usually to families with children, pregnant women, or people considered especially vulnerable.
Temporary accommodation
This is one of the most common – and overlooked – forms of homelessness. Right now, 175,000 Londoners are living in temporary accommodation. That’s 1 in every 50 people in the capital.
If you’ve got nowhere else to go, your local council has a duty to find you somewhere temporary to stay. Depending on what’s available, that could mean:
- A hotel or B&B
- A hostel, refuge, or support accommodation
- A flat or a house from a private landlord
- A room in a shared house
- A short-term council or housing association tenancy
With sky-high rents, a cost-of-living crisis, and a chronic shortage of social housing, councils are increasingly forced to rely on temporary accommodation to keep people off the streets.
It’s meant to be a stopgap solution, but too many people are getting stuck in temporary housing – sometimes for months, sometimes for years – with their lives on hold, and no end in sight.
- Almost 90,000 children in London are growing up in temporary accommodation. That’s one in every 21 children in London – at least one child in every classroom.
- As of September 2024, 5,400 families were living in B&Bs, a 15% increase from the previous year. Of these, 3,470 were there beyond the legal six-week limit – a 30% rise.
- London councils are spending £4 million every day on temporary accommodation – that’s £1.3 billion annually.
Hidden homelessness
Hidden homelessness doesn’t look like rough sleeping, but it’s still homelessness. It means crashing on a mate’s or a family’s sofa. Living in squats or other unsafe places, out of sight and off the radar.
It can be a dangerous place to be. People facing hidden homelessness are more at risk of abuse, assault, and exploitation, and often just one step away from sleeping on the street.
They are rarely included in official statistics. But they make up the majority of single homeless people in England. Most don’t qualify for support. Some haven’t asked for it yet as they don’t see themselves as homeless. But without help, they’ll fall further through the cracks.
Three groups that are more likely to experience hidden homelessness are:
Women
Women are more likely to turn to friends or family before asking their council for help. That means they stay hidden for longer and stay at risk.
When women fleeing domestic abuse do ask for support, they’re too often turned away or placed in housing that’s unsafe or unsuitable. The system fails them, and that failure forces women to deal with their situation alone. To stay in danger, making them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Young people
Most people still think homelessness just means rough sleeping. But that’s not the reality for most young people. When your idea of “homeless” doesn’t match your own situation, it’s easy to miss the signs.
That’s why so many young people hide for years, not realising they’re homeless – not reaching out for help, and instead crashing with friends, staying with people they barely know, doing whatever it takes to avoid the streets.
Ethnic minority groups
A review found that Asian people in England face a higher risk of hidden homelessness. Instead of turning to services, many cope by staying with friends or relatives – often in overcrowded, unstable conditions that keep a roof over their head, but leave them off the radar and out of reach of support.
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