Homelessness in the United Kingdom

Homelessness in the United Kingdom is kept somewhat at bay by a reasonable volume of housing, statutory rights, and various government initiatives.

Since the late 1990s, housing policy has been a devolved matter, and state support for the homeless, together with legal rights in housing, have therefore diverged to a certain degree.

The longer term causes of homelessness have been examined by a number of research studies. A number of different pathways into homelessness have been identified; research suggests that both personal factors (e.g. addictions) and structural factors (e.g. poverty) are ultimately responsible for the sequence of events that results in homelessness. For young people, there are additional factors that appear to be involved, most notably needing to face the responsibilities of independent living before they are ready for them.

Historically homelessness support was provided in the UK by monastic communities, but after the Reformation, governmental support was provided by means of the Poor Law, which differed in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland (though under the same Crown for most of this time, these were different jurisdictions). Eventually, a system of elected local authorities replaced the looser organisation of disparate local administrative bodies, including those operating the poor law.

All local authorities in the UK have a legal duty to provide 24-hour advice to homeless people, or those who are at risk of becoming homeless within 28 days. Once an individual applies to a local authority for assistance, from a person claiming to be homeless (or threatened with homelessness), the local authority is also duty bound to make inquiries into that person's circumstances, in order to decide whether they suffer statutory homelessness. For people meeting such criteria, the authority has a legal duty to find accommodation for the person, and provide them with assistance.

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