Newly homeless households by borough

The proportion of households newly recognised as homeless in the last 12 months

Note: This is a three year average, 2006/07 to 2008/09 except in the cases of Barking, Kensington, Westminster and Tower Hamlets where at least on year's data was missing

What does this map show?

The difference between boroughs is one of the largest for any indicator on this website. At 1.4%, the proportion of households in Waltham Forest newly recognised as homeless was over ten times higher than in Merton (0.1%) and five times higher than in Richmond (0.25%).

Overall, the pattern of homelessness shown here is similar to the pattern in many other maps on this site. For example, most Inner East & South boroughs have above-average rates.

There are, however, some exceptions. While Ealing and Islington have average rates of worklessness but very high rates of homelessness, Camden has very high rates of worklessness but only an average rate of homelessness. Even more strikingly, Kingston, one of the most affluent areas of London, has an above-average rate of homelessness.
Although levels of homelessness in individual local authorities do vary quite a lot from year-to-year, there is always a large variation between boroughs.

Additional information

Local authorities have a legal requirement to find suitable housing for some, but not all, households whom they accept as homeless.

To be formally recognised as homeless, the person or household must either lack a 'licence to occupy' a home or it must be unreasonable for them to have to occupy the home they are in.

A household is only entitled to accommodation from their local authority if they are classified as unintentionally homeless and deemed to be in 'priority need' (that is, with dependent children or meeting one of several criteria for 'vulnerability').

In practice, being classified as 'homeless' is dependent on the judgement of the particular local authority, and can, as a result, change substantially from one year to the next. Local authorities also have no statutory requirement to house single homeless people (unless deemed 'vulnerable'), which may discourage single people from applying in the first place.

Data used

DCLG 2007 to 2009

Indicator last updated: 17 August 2010

Other indicators in Camden

• Working age out-of-work benefits by ward
• Working-age adults lacking work by borough
• Overcrowding by borough
• Working age out-of-work benefits by borough

Other indicators in Islington

• Child poverty
• Working age out-of-work benefits by ward
• Income inequalities within London boroughs
• Adult ill-health by borough
• Premature death by region
• Low-paid residents by borough
• Premature death by borough
• Attainment at age 16 by borough

Other indicators in Kingston upon Thames

• Adult ill-health by borough

Other indicators in Richmond upon Thames

• Working age out-of-work benefits by ward
• Income inequalities within London boroughs
• Working-age adults lacking work by borough
• Infant deaths by borough
• Adult ill-health by borough
• Low-paid residents by borough
• Attainment at age 11 by borough
• Underage conception by borough

Other indicators in Waltham Forest

• Child poverty
• Low-paid residents by borough
• Low-paid jobs by borough
• Attainment at age 16 by borough
• Working age out-of-work benefits by borough

View all indicators