Homeless Families: United Kingdom

Despite the longstanding recognition of family homelessness as a major social problem in England and the wider United Kingdom, until recently far less was known about it than about single or youth homelessness. However, a recent nationally representative survey of 2500 statutorily homeless families in England represents a major step forward in our understanding of this phenomenon. This article draws upon the national survey to review homeless families’ characteristics and support needs, the causes of their homelessness, and their experience of temporary accommodation and the statutory homelessness system. The findings suggest that previous reliance on small-scale qualitative research had led many commentators to develop an exaggerated sense of the overall scale of support needs among homeless families. They also indicate that the provision of statutory homelessness assistance seems to secure a substantial overall net improvement in the quality of life for both adults and children in homeless families. However, the long waits for settled housing in London were a source of considerable frustration for the affected families, and another note of concern relates to the apparent negative impact of statutory homelessness on these families’ already weak economic position.