When the days are short and cold, it is hard to ignore the distressing sight of people sleeping rough in our towns and cities – but it is a crisis that continues to grow despite efforts by successive governments and a multitude of charities and community groups.
Official figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government at the end of February show that the number of people sleeping rough on a single night in England in November 2025 rose to a record high of 4,793, compared to 4,667 for the same period last year. This is 42 more people than the previous record high in 2017 and represents a rise of 3 per cent on last year. Record numbers of households also remain in temporary accommodation, with 134,760 households in this position (an increase of 9 per cent, or 11,660 households, on last year). These figures come after more than a decade of sustained pressure on homelessness services.
The reasons for the growing homelessness crisis are many and far reaching, ranging from the obvious shortage of affordable housing, high rents and the cost-of-living crisis to often misunderstood immigration laws, a pandemic of mental health issues and a lack of housebuilding in the last decade.
The homelessness sector has come up with a number of innovative solutions to address the issue of rough sleeping (whether by UK nationals or migrants). While the last resort for many individuals facing homelessness is usually a bed in a night shelter, this is an emergency response rather than a long-term solution. Community-based solutions to homelessness are increasingly viewed as successful and value-for-money options, with initiatives such as homelessness prevention programmes and Housing Justice’s Refugee Lodgings Project and Hosting Project garnering support from the sector and from statutory providers, and featuring in the Mayor of London’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action 2025.
Housing Justice launched its innovative Refugee Lodgings Project in response to the alarming 234 per cent rise in rough sleeping among newly granted refugees in 2024. This cohort has successfully gone through the process of seeking asylum and been granted the right to remain in the UK. Home Office policy is that these individuals must leave their Home Office accommodation within 28 days of being granted asylum, which does not give them enough time to find work and housing, and so many are forced into rough sleeping.
Refugee Lodgings is a safe and supported housing option for newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness, whereby individuals are matched with people who have a spare room and want to offer both a solution to migrant homelessness and a stepping stone into stable, independent living. Each six-month lodgings placement offers a vital safety net for those leaving Home Office accommodation, helping them avoid rough sleeping while they prepare to move into the private rental market. Resident landlords can earn rental income (up to £7,500 a year tax-free), making it a sustainable and practical model for community-driven responses to homelessness.
This project sits alongside Housing Justice’s Hosting Project, which houses migrants with a complicated immigration status while they resolve their cases. Many of these individuals have no recourse to public funds and would otherwise be homeless. The project works much like Homes for Ukraine, with a host welcoming a guest into their home for three to 12 months, offering them support and a safe home while they resolve their housing situation.
Projects like this offer a longer-term solution than night shelter beds and usually come with a package of wraparound support to help people find more permanent homes at the end of the placement.
Feedback from resident landlords and hosts and lodgers and guests is hugely positive, with each benefiting from these arrangements. While the benefits to lodgers and guests are obvious – a safe and stable home for an agreed period of time, plus support to find move-on options – landlords and hosts enjoy the cultural exchange, companionship and mutual learning that these placements offer, and often end up forming deep and lasting friendships that outlast the placement. Resident landlords also receive an additional income from rental payments.
Sadly, there are thousands of people forced into rough sleeping through no fault of their own every year in the UK, and while the Government has committed to sustaining record investment by allocating £39 billion for social housing in England between 2026 and 2036, the time it will take for new affordable homes to come to fruition means that levels of homelessness and rough sleeping are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, any support you can give to homelessness charities in your area – by volunteering, taking part in fundraising events or making a donation – will make a big difference to those facing homelessness this winter.
You can make a donation to Housing Justice’s Lent Appeal here.
Bonnie Williams is the Chief Executive of Housing Justice which has sponsored this content.
Housing Justice was created in 2003 when the National Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS) and Churches’ National Housing Coalition (CNHC) merged. In January 2006, Housing Justice expanded further when it merged with Church Action on Homelessness in London (UNLEASH). Housing Justice remains a Christian charity and today, with Cardinal Vincent Nichols as its President.
Housing Justice works to bring together communities and find solutions to homelessness by building personal connections, a sense of belonging, and creating justice in the housing system across England and Wales. They provide support and guidance for more than 125 community-based organisations across England and Wales in addition to the projects that we run ourselves.
