31 July 2025
The Social Value Of Preventing Homelessness
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report in 2024 stating that, compared to the rest of the developing world, England’s homelessness rates are the highest, by a significant margin [1]. This affects not only those facing homelessness first hand, but the local community, through impacts such as increased strain on health services and councils’ financial stability [2]. Whilst street homelessness is a painful reality for thousands of people experiencing homelessness, much of the homelessness crisis in the UK is hidden by temporary accommodation - a sticking plaster that covers up, but does not heal, the impact homelessness has on the mental and physical health of those experiencing it.
Homelessness is an upsetting visible display of poverty, with numerous individuals forced to find shelter in outdoor spaces such as the doorways of local high street services. However, what goes unnoticed by the majority are the countless individuals who have been placed in temporary accommodation provided by several councils as a ‘short-term solution’ which has regrettably become ‘a long-term struggle’ [1]. Whilst this growing issue continues to be covered up, the costs it incurs continues to increase. Figures show that from 2023 to 2024 the provision of temporary accommodation cost councils around £663 million, whether that be by placing households in hotels, bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) or other temporary accommodation [3]. This figure has grown significantly in the recent years, reinforcing the fact that homelessness is becoming a growing cost which councils are struggling to fund.
Recent studies by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government have highlighted the growing issue of homelessness in the UK. In March 2025, 131,140 households were residing in temporary accommodation (11.8% more than the previous year), households with children in temporary accommodation increasing by 11.6% since 2024, and around 3,870 households with children residing in B&Bs [4]. These shocking statistics highlight the growing need for local councils to invest in more long-term strategies to prevent homelessness.
This is proven to be a much larger, and more expensive, concern for England than any other country in the OECD. In a recent study carried out by The Guardian in April 2025, England came out as having the highest homelessness rates in the OECD [2]. The number of homeless people housed in temporary accommodation in 2023 was 27% higher than the second worse country - France [2]. As a result of England’s homelessness rates being miles above the majority in the OECD, their costs of providing temporary accommodation skyrocketed to just under £1 billion by the end of 2024 [2]. Hence, there is a great need for a more long-term initiative to tackle homelessness in England.
Norway has proven that this homelessness crisis can be solved. With increased political backing, the Norwegian government has implemented national housing-led initiatives with great success. Since 2006, homelessness has halved in Norway going from a peak of 6,529 homeless individuals in 2012 to 3,325 in 2020 [5]. Three main parties have contributed to this drastic reduction, all investing in areas within their remit to battle the crisis:
Municipality’s role: helping find temporary accommodation for the homeless and providing access to homes for disadvantages groups;
State’s role: setting laws and regulations, and issuing loans and grants;
Welfare non-profit’s role: working on the ground with homeless people [5].
The collaboration of these three parties as well as a strong focus on data has allowed Norway to turn these statistics around. These data related focuses include:
Giving the public access to up-to-date statistics;
Implementing policies, including the aim to reduce evictions by 30% and eviction notices by 50%;
Shortening temporary housing stays to no more than three months and stopping those recently released from prison from needing temporary accommodation [5].
These initiatives are more viable, long-term solutions as they are more cost effective for the local councils and provide more permanent solutions for the homeless and local communities. This is due to the cost that is incurred by having a large amount of people who are homeless. The strain on the health services due to unsanitary living conditions and a lack of nutrition, mental health issues including anxiety and depression, that can be a result of homelessness for young people, as well as disruptions to social cohesion and work force participation, are only some of the repercussions of not finding long-term solutions for these individuals [2]. Statistics have shown that in the long run finding a permanent housing solution is more cost effective, with 12 months of rough sleeping in the UK costing £20,128 compared to the cost of a permanent successful intervention which is around £1,426 [3]. Hence, there is a high demand to follow in Norway’s footsteps and start resolving this issue.
Despite this, there have been interventions aimed at doing this exact thing in the UK. For example, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness (APPGEH), set up in 2016, aims to ‘create lasting change’ by providing a space for those who have had first hand experiences with homelessness to engage with members of parliament [6]. Their latest aim was to end rough sleeping in England by 2024 [7], however after an enquiry that took place in 2024 into their most recent efforts, results showed that if immediate action was not taken, that this target would not be achievable. However, with the cost-of-living crisis they were unable to follow through on their promise to end homelessness by 2024 [8]. It has been argued that several of the initiatives to end homelessness focus on the issues and solutions at ‘a micro and technocratic level’, making it difficult for them to achieve the ‘required change to end homelessness’ [9]. Thus, it seems that in order to make a lasting social impact, improve the wellbeing of not only the homeless but the local communities, and reduce the strain on local services and the council, a more collaborative approach needs to be adopted nationally and internationally.
Sources and Links
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/apr/29/in-charts-scale-england-temporary-accommodation-crisis
[2] https://homeinplace.org/how-homelessness-affects-the-community/
[3] https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/homelessness-knowledge-hub/cost-of-homelessness/
[6] https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/appg-for-ending-homelessness/
[9] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2025.2493360#abstract