Tackling homelessness or repeating the past? UK Government policy in the UK
Written by Daisy Brookes
In 2025, the UK recorded a 9% increase in deaths among people experiencing homelessness, reaching 1,611 deaths (BBC News). As winter continues, this statistic forces a pressing question: is the government genuinely confronting homelessness, or is this simply another cycle of familiar promises followed by limited change? While homelessness is often reduced to rough sleeping, it also includes hidden forms of housing insecurity such as sofa surfing and long term use of temporary accommodation. Despite repeated political commitments, homelessness remains widespread and, in key indicators, is worsening.
Under the Housing Act 1996, homelessness is broadly defined to include those without safe or reasonable accommodation, placing a legal duty on local authorities to assess and assist eligible individuals, particularly those in priority need. However, many people experiencing housing insecurity fall outside official counts, especially those who are sofa surfing or moving between short term arrangements. This underreporting obscures the true scale of the problem and weakens the urgency of policy responses, allowing homelessness to persist largely out of public view.
The causes of homelessness are well established and largely structural. Rising rents, insecure private tenancies and a long standing shortage of affordable housing remain the central drivers. Evictions from the private rented sector continue to push individuals and families into homelessness, often following financial pressure and with few realistic housing alternatives available. These patterns indicate that homelessness is not primarily the result of individual failure but of systemic weaknesses in housing supply, affordability and regulation.
Social inequality and discrimination further heighten vulnerability. Research shows that marginalised groups, including LGBT individuals, are disproportionately affected by homelessness, often as a result of family rejection or social exclusion (Crisis, 2025). This reinforces the argument that homelessness cannot be understood purely as an economic issue, but must also be seen as a social one shaped by unequal access to support, stability and protection.
Since coming to power in 2024, the Labour government has framed homelessness as a structural policy failure rather than an individual one. In 2025 it introduced a National Plan to End Homelessness, placing greater emphasis on prevention and increased funding. Supporters of the government argue that this represents a clear break from previous approaches, particularly in its focus on early intervention and accountability. The government has also pointed to its commitment to abolishing Section 21 evictions and expanding social and affordable housing as evidence of meaningful reform.
However, critics argue that many of these commitments closely resemble pledges made by previous Conservative governments. Targets to reduce rough sleeping, improve temporary accommodation and increase housing supply have been repeatedly announced in the past, yet consistently missed. Housing construction remains slow, and local authorities continue to rely heavily on temporary accommodation as a short term solution, often at significant financial and human cost. Without rapid delivery and sustained investment, there is a risk that Labour’s approach amounts to repackaging existing policy rather than transforming it.
The question, then, is not whether the government recognises homelessness as a problem but whether it is prepared to move beyond rhetoric. While scepticism is justified, there are signs that this moment could be different if commitments are matched by long term funding, stronger tenant protections and genuine empowerment of local authorities. If those measures fail to materialise, homelessness will remain a persistent feature of British society rather than a policy failure finally addressed. The challenge now is whether this government is willing to be judged not by its plans, but by the lives that no longer fall through the cracks.