2017 Annual Review of Support for Single Homeless People in England

For the past 10 years, Homeless Link has produced an annual review of the available support for single homelessness in England. Single homeless people are less likely than families to be to be entitled to housing from their local authority, and therefore often rely on homelessness charities for accommodation, advice and other forms of support. 

Support for Single Homeless People in England: Annual Review 2017  provides vital evidence of the support provided by these services to inform policy and practice. It is the only available data source of its kind on the homelessness sector in England.

The findings are based on four key data sources, including surveys of 387 accommodation providers and 72 day centres from across England, data from the Homeless England database, national government statistics and detailed service case studies.

The report provides a detailed overview of the nature and availability of key services, the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector, the needs and circumstances of the people accessing services, and the various ways in which the sector helps people to move out of homelessness and achieve other positive outcomes in their lives.

Key findings

Availability of homelessness services

• There are currently 1,121 accommodation projects for single homeless people in England.
• A total of 196 day centres currently operate throughout England.
• Homeless England data shows a reduction in both the number of accommodation projects (-5%) and the number of day centres (-8%) in the past year.
• The number of bed spaces has decreased by 3% in the past year, and now stands at 34,497 in total.
• 39% of the responding accommodation providers reported a decrease in funding, with 38% reporting no change in funding over the past 12 months. 15% reported an increase in funding.

Delivery of services

• Accommodation providers and day centres provide a wide variety of services to address individuals’ needs, and respondents rarely reported that services are completely unavailable.
• People who are homeless face difficulties in accessing mental health services.
• Services provided in-house on an organisation’s premises are less likely to have barriers to access than services provided via formal referral to external services.

Outcomes, move on and service development

• Among accommodation projects, the level of resident engagement is highest for money management activities and for meaningful activities such as sports or art groups.
• Accommodation providers were most likely to report homelessness prevention as their main outcome.
• 74% of accommodation providers continue to support individuals after they move on from their services.
• People accessing accommodation services face significant structural barriers to moving on. Lack of affordable accommodation is the main barrier.