Mapping the homelessness workforce

In 2025, Homeless Link was commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to undertake inaugural research entitled Mapping the homelessness workforce: exploring the profile and experiences of the homelessness sector.

Read the full report here.

2023-24 saw a marked increase in all forms of homelessness, with 324,990 households assessed as owed a homelessness duty in England, 4,282 people estimated to be sleeping rough in autumn 2024, and 131,140 households in temporary accommodation as of 31st March 2025. At the same time, evidence suggests that people experiencing homelessness are presenting to services, both statutory and non-statutory, with increasingly complex and significant needs.

Appropriately supporting these individuals relies on a skilled and knowledgeable workforce, but our understanding of the composition of this workforce, and their skills and knowledge, is lacking. This research aims to fill this evidence gap.

The research sought to build a broad understanding of the homelessness sector, including: quantifying the scale and shape of the sector; understanding who works in the sector and their pay and conditions; why people join, remain and leave the sector; learning and development opportunities and needs; and the experiences of the homelessness workforce. To meet these research objectives the following methods were used:

The composition of the homelessness workforce

• In 2025, the total estimated size of the homelessness workforce is 34,519. Of these, an estimated 30,811 are Full Time Equivalent (FTE) roles within the homelessness sector (7,983 are estimated to be held within Local Authority homelessness services, and 22,828 are estimated to be VCSF+ organisations). There are an estimated 3,708 vacant posts.
• There are an estimated 16,417 volunteers working within the homelessness sector, comprising nearly a third of the overall workforce (32%). This takes the overall estimate of the homelessness workforce to 50,937.
• The estimated overall vacancy rate in the homelessness sector is 7% (5% in LAs; 8% VCSF+).
• The average salary for LA and VCSF+ frontline workers is well below the UK median salary of £37,430. The average VCSF+ frontline workers’ salary is closer to the National Minimum Wage than it is the median salary.
• Staff across all roles are very likely to hold permanent contracts, with 11% or fewer people across all roles in both VCSF+, and LAs holding an employment contract of less than 1 year.

Profile of the homelessness sector workforce

• The homelessness workforce is predominantly female.
• The homelessness workforce is evenly split across four main age groups spanning ages 25-64, with a peak of those aged 45-54. Staff are younger within the VCSF+ (40% aged 18-35) and older in LAs (30% aged 55+).
• Frontline roles are unique in attracting people regardless of age and/or are especially able to retain staff as they age.
• 12% of the homelessness workforce have a reported disability compared to 24% of the working age population, suggesting an underrepresentation within the sector.
• Black / Black British people, and people from mixed or multiple ethnic backgrounds are three times as likely to be working in the homelessness sector compared to the 2021 UK census. People from White ethnic backgrounds are overrepresented in senior leadership roles (84%) and team leader and manager roles (83%).
• Based on the individual staff survey, 38% of staff have caring responsibilities for a child or children and/or adults. Based on organisational surveys, 42% of staff within LAs have caring responsibilities, compared to 35% of staff from VCSF+ organisations.
• A quarter of staff (25%) responding to the individual survey reported that they had lived experience of homelessness. Organisations report lower levels of lived experience within their workforce (0-10% (33% VCSF+; 70% LA), and 10-20% (23%; 15% LA), suggesting that this data is not always accurate at an organisational level.

Routes into the homelessness sector

• 65% of individual staff survey respondents applied for their current role via the open job market. The second most common route into current roles was via volunteering (10%), demonstrating the importance of volunteer development to the sector.
• The majority of individual staff survey respondents had worked in another job within the sector, and more than a third of staff (39%) had previously been support workers. Of those who had been support workers, 32% were currently working as frontline workers, 23% were currently team leaders and service managers, and 22% held senior leadership roles.
• 30% of staff had previously worked in the health and social care sector. There are no dominant sectors within which staff had worked outside of this, suggesting that staff come from diverse professional backgrounds and sectors.
• 62% of individual staff survey respondents held a qualification at Level 4 or above. This includes 55% of frontline workers and 56% of housing advice and assessment workers. A higher proportion of staff in more senior positions, and in corporate and central services, held Level 4 qualifications: 76% of senior leaders, 64% of team leaders and service managers, and 79% of corporate and central services staff.
• The homelessness workforce is highly values driven, with 80% of staff survey respondents reported they joined the sector to make a positive difference in the lives of others. 45% of respondents wanted to change the system to improve the lives of others, and 42% wanted to work somewhere that aligned with their values.

Experience of working in the homelessness sector

• The top reported benefit of working in the homelessness sector was the ability to have a meaningful impact (75%), echoing the motivation that drew many staff to the sector in the first place. 86% of staff feel that their work has value (vs. 6% who disagree) and 70% of staff agree that they experience job satisfaction (vs.12% disagree).
• The top challenges reported by staff include the complexity of clients’ needs (42%), high workloads (42%), funding uncertainty (31%), burnout (29%), low pay (23%), and wider systemic funding constraints (23%).
• Nearly half of staff surveyed (48%) agreed that they are at risk of experiencing burnout, compared to 28% who disagreed. Although 44% of respondents said they had enough time to do their job effectively, 41% reported that they do not, suggesting many people in the sector are feeling high levels of pressure due to the demands on their time.
• 43% of staff reported that their role positively impacted their wellbeing, while 46% reported a negative impact. Staff in local authorities were more likely to report negative impact on their wellbeing (52%) compared to those working in Housing Associations (40%) and non-faith-based charity and voluntary organisations (VCS) (42%).

Learning and development

• The skills most commonly reported as necessary by staff for their roles within the homelessness sector were: communication (68%), managing challenging behaviour (65%), team working (65%), time management (62%), professional boundaries (62%) and active listening (62%).
• The types of knowledge most commonly identified as necessary by staff for their roles were: safeguarding (77%), housing and homelessness legislation and statutory requirements (74%), EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) (71%), stress, vicarious trauma and managing wellbeing (70%).
• Staff are commonly offered learning and development opportunities through online learning, e-learning and face-to-face training. Staff were interested in. but had not been offered, reverse mentoring (51%), CPD-accredited training (51%), gaining qualifications (49%), mentoring (47%), and coaching (43%).
• There were some differences within the sector, with coaching and mentoring more widely embedded in LAs, and 49% of LAs offering apprenticeships, compared with 19% of VCSF+ organisations.
• Across both LAs and VCSF+ organisations, barriers to accessing learning and development opportunities included insufficient funding, lack of staff cover, and limited time to source or organise training. These barriers were more pronounced in the VCSF+ group (7% reporting no barrier, compared with 28% LAs.)
• More than half of staff (52%) want to progress within the sector and more than half (52%) of staff identified a lack of progression opportunities within their organisation as a major barrier to this. Other barriers identified included unclear progression routes within their field (32%), the precarity of roles with fixed-term contracts (28%), and the fact that the types of roles staff are interested in are often not advertised or available (28%).

Retention

• 29% of respondents from the individual staff survey had been in post for 3 – 5 years, and 27% had been in post for 1 – 2 years. Findings were consistent for local authorities (LA) and non-faith-based charity and voluntary organisations (VCS). A higher proportion of staff within Housing Associations were in their role for less than one year (26%).
• Many people stay working within the homelessness sector for many years, 24% of staff respondents reporting that they had worked in the homelessness sector for 3-5 years, 54% of staff for over 6 years and 35% for over 10 years.
• Again indicating a high level of commitment to the sector, 71% of staff reported that they were likely to continue working in the homelessness sector long-term, while 11% said they are unlikely, 13% were neutral and 5% did not know. Figures were across LA, VCS organisations, and housing associations were similar with 69–73% of staff reporting that they were likely to continue working in the sector long-term.
• The most common reason that staff intended to continue working in the homelessness sector was the ability to make a positive difference to someone’s life (63%). This was followed by having a rewarding career (51%), having variety in their roles (28%), having flexible working opportunities (26%) and a good work/life balance (24%).
• Of those who were unlikely to remain in the sector long-term, more than half (52%) reported the risk or experience of burnout as the leading reason for leaving. This was followed by seeking to improve their pay (37%), lack of career progression (26%), high workload (23%), and feeling undervalued (21%).
• Within the VCSF+ 32% of organisations had a retention rate over 90%, 51% of organisations had a retention rate over 80% and 74% of organisations had a retention rate over 70%. Local Authorities report an overall higher retention rate, with 60% of local authorities reporting a rate over 90% and 85% having a retention rate over 80%.
• Barriers to retaining staff differed between the VCSF+ and LA, with VCSF+ organisations more likely to report that low pay is a barrier to retaining skilled staff members (62% VCSF+; compared to 49% LA), and LAs more likely to report burnout leading to long-term sickness (39% LA; 24% VCSF+) and a lack of ability to offer job security (39% LA; 33% VCSF+).

The full report is available to download below. Alternatively an HTML version is available on the MHCLG website.