This year’s report, the 7th published, comes as homelessness in the UK is at an all-time high. Official statistics released in August 2024 show that 86,520 households in England qualified for homelessness support from their councils between January and March. In Autumn 2023, 3,898 people were estimated to be sleeping rough.
Our survey has revealed that frontline staff feel that their ability to prevent homelessness has decreased (47%) due to a lack of housing for those in need and an increased demand. Nearly half (49%) of staff themselves worry about paying bills, and two-fifths (41%) about housing.
This has a knock-on effect on their wellbeing, with 80% of staff reporting that they feel at risk of burnout and 64% report their role has a negative impact on their wellbeing
Please read our report to see other key finding from our survey.
Listening to lived and frontline experience is crucial to addressing homelessness, and our survey gives us a unique opportunity to amplify the voices of these experts in the sector. As we face significant challenges, such as the cost-of-living crisis, it is important that these insights are heard and can help shape future policy and practice.
We present our findings to decision makers, including submitting survey data in response to government consultations and calls for evidence related to homelessness.
We also use the findings to shape our own work. Across this year, this has included expanding our training fund into our training programme offer; offering a regular series of free trainings directly responding to training gaps to staff across the UK identified in our survey, and informing the session content planning of our Frontline Network annual conference 2024.
Find out more about our Frontline Network.
The results will inform where we provide funding and focus our influencing work; ensuring we are supporting the implementation of and testing evolving practice for future scale up. It will guide how we measure, learn from and report on our impact.