Homelessness for Ukraine refugees continues to rise

More than 1,560 Ukraine refugee households in England faced homelessness at the end of August, nearly five months after the first families arrived.

Amid rising costs of energy, food and housing, the number of households needing support from local councils has more than doubled since 3rd June, according to new statistics released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Two in every five households are currently staying in temporary accommodation such as hostels, hotels and B&Bs. The total number in temporary accommodation has risen to 630 households as of 29th August, up from 345 households in early June.

Although seven in ten of the households needing support from their local councils have dependent children, an increasing number of solo Ukrainians have become at risk of homelessness.

Homelessness risks are not evenly spread across the country. More than a third of refugee households at risk of homelessness live in London — and 43 percent of them are in temporary accommodation. A further 28 percent of households facing homelessness are in the South East and East of England, with nearly one-quarter currently in temporary accommodation in those regions.

The largest increases in homelessness have been in the London boroughs of Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames, and Newham.

Nineteen Local Authorities reported their first cases of homelessness at the end of August, mostly in the East of England. Councils with the highest numbers of new cases of homelessness were Tower Hamlets, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, and Wealden.

The picture becomes starker when comparing homelessness to the total number of arrivals in each Local Authority, with three in ten Ukraine refugee households in Luton at risk of homelessness.

Risks of homelessness for Ukraine refugees are likely to be compounded not only by the cost of living crisis but also broader risks of homelessness and shortages in social housing.

Homelessness among families from Ukraine tends to be higher in places with higher rates of statutory homelessness (including people in temporary accommodation) or with longer waiting lists for housing, as well as in deprived areas with greater barriers to housing such as affordability and overcrowding.

On top of this, three in ten people currently hosting Ukrainian guests told the Office for National Statistics that rising costs are affecting their ability to provide support. Around a quarter of hosts said they did not intend to provide accommodation beyond the minimum of six months.

Not only is homelessness likely to rise for Ukraine refugees, the Home Office recently reported that 9,667 people resettled from Afghanistan are still living in hotels. And that’s in addition to the 74,230 households in need of support and the 95,060 currently living in temporary accommodation, according to Government figures.

Back in June, former Minister for Refugees Lord Harrington described the numbers as “a trickle.” Set against the tempest of declining living standards, homelessness could become a deluge.

The code and data to reproduce these analyses can be found on the British Red Cross’s GitHub page.