Learn how homelessness can happen

About Crisis

Crisis is the national charity for homeless people. We help people directly out of homelessness, and campaign for the social changes needed to solve it altogether. We know that together we can end homelessness. Homelessness isn’t inevitable. In England in the early 2000s we dramatically reduced the number of people sleeping on our streets, and there are countries and cities around the world which have rapidly reduced and even ended some forms of homelessness. But, if we do nothing, more people will be without a place to live and we’ll all lose out. Homelessness has a huge human cost but also a financial one.

Last year Crisis published a plan to end homelessness. The plan presents the practical solutions needed to end homelessness in Britain. These were underpinned by evidence and examples of the change that needs to happen. The plan was targeted at the politicians and decision makers who can make its aims a reality.

In order to achieve changes in policy, that will lead to an end in homelessness, we need the general public to support them. While there is strong evidence across Britain that the public is demanding a better response from governments, there is also a cynicism about what can be achieved. Too many people believe that homelessness is a product of poor choices. We therefore must change the way we communicate our issue to emphasise the solutions to it.

We can end homelessness for good. This doesn’t mean that no-one will ever lose their home again, but that everyone facing homelessness gets the help they need quickly. It means making sure we all have a place to live, and together doing everything we can to stop people from losing their homes in the first place.

About the Simon Community
Simon Community NI is Northern Ireland’s leading homeless charity. We help over 3000 people every year across 22 projects throughout Northern Ireland with a staff count of 300 and 50 volunteers. We work without judgement to support people who are, or are at risk of, becoming homeless.

We offer specialist support services in your local area including homelessness prevention, accommodation services, health, well-being and practice development and young people support services.

Why support ending homelessness?

Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity. Living with dignity means having decent housing. Let’s commit to protecting this essential human need. Right now, hundreds of thousands of people in our country are homeless – forced to sleep on friends’ sofas and floors, live in crowded or unsafe places, sleep on buses or in cars or even stay out on the streets. We can do better.

Homelessness today

There are more than 170,000 families and individuals across Great Britain experiencing the worst forms of homelessness. This includes people sleeping on the streets, staying with family and friends on floors or sofas, staying in hostels, and or stuck in other dangerous situations. Homelessness is rising, but we know it can be solved.

• There are at least 38,000 young adults under the age of 25 experiencing homelessness, with almost half of this group sofa-surfing. There are also at least 4,200 homeless people aged 65 or over.
• The total also includes over 20,000 households in England and Scotland who are stuck in unsuitable temporary accommodation such as B&Bs and nightly-paid hotels – a number that has doubled between 2012 and 2017, mainly driven by rises in England.
• England: Rough sleeping in England (not GB) has increased by 165% since 2010. Based on the count or estimate from each local authority, the figures show that 4,677 people slept rough on a single given night in September to November 2018.
• Scotland: Reductions in homelessness across Scotland have stalled. Whilst rough sleeping and homelessness have remained relatively stable over the past three years, high numbers of people are remaining stuck in temporary accommodation, including bed and breakfasts, preventing people from moving on from homelessness.
• Wales: Rough sleeping was slightly up in Wales in 2018 compared to the previous year, with the Welsh Government's national rough sleeper count showing a 1% rise.

Causes of homelessness

• People lose their homes when the rising pressure from high rents and low incomes becomes too much. Without government support, a sudden increase in pressure, like losing a job, becoming ill, or leaving home to get out of an abusive relationship, can quickly force people into homelessness.
• For far too long, the instability and rising costs of private renting, coupled with the huge disparity between housing benefit payments and rising rents, has been pushing more and more people into homelessness – particularly those in the most vulnerable circumstances.
• Many people become homeless because they can no longer afford the rent. Across the country, people are struggling to keep their heads above water - often because of cuts to benefits and a lack of genuinely affordable homes.

Solutions to homelessness

• Somewhere stable to live for everyone who’s homeless: That means sufficient housing for everyone who is homeless, including more social housing for homeless people; and the legal entitlement to rehousing for everyone.
• The support people need to keep their homes: Such as benefits that meet the true cost of housing; sufficient funding for local councils to rehouse people quickly and give people the support they need to stay housed, from debt advice to mental health support; and more security for tenants renting their homes privately.
• Action to prevent homelessness: Everyone at immediate risk of homelessness needs help to stop it happening; and no one should leave state institutions such as prison, hospital, the army or the care system without a home to go to.

Other resources

• Watch this video about how we can be the generation to end homelessness.
• Read Crisis' interactive plan to end homelessness.
• Listen to Sharon's story.