Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level, in respect of households rather than people.
Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. The duty owed to an accepted household is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
The data are published in our quarterly statistical release on statutory homelessness, which includes a supplementary table showing the breakdown of key data, including acceptances and temporary accommodation, by each local authority. This is published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. The latest release was published on 11 June 2007 and contains data for the period January to March 2007:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2438
Since 1998, information has also been collected on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night—and these are also published on our website, by local authority.
Summary tables showing the total number of households (a) accepted under homelessness provisions and (b) in temporary accommodation, from 1997-98 to 2006-07, and (c) rough sleeper estimates from 1998 onwards, for each local authority are provided with this answer and have been placed in the Library.
(2) what proportion of all registered social landlord lettings, excluding sheltered and supported housing, were let to homeless households in (a) each London local authority and (b) in England in each of the last five years.
The main sources of data on total lettings and lettings to homeless households are:
1. COntinuous REcording (CORE) data on general needs lets by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs)
2. Annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) data collected by local authorities
The proportions of all RSL lettings (excluding sheltered and supported housing) to statutorily homeless households in each London borough for the past five years are provided in the following tables.
A household is found to be statutorily homeless by a local authority if it is eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless (or threatened with homelessness) and in priority need. The main duty owed to households accepted as being statutory homeless is to secure suitable accommodation.
Percentage 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 Barking and Dagenham 3 4 3 5 2 Barnet 19 21 16 14 12 Bexley 27 25 22 23 17 Brent 24 33 30 29 24 Bromley 34 43 38 44 47 Camden 12 10 16 14 15 City of London 8 11 0 0 0 Croydon 22 28 28 27 36 Ealing 22 27 16 18 17 Enfield 20 31 17 19 22 Greenwich 9 7 7 7 8 Hackney 19 20 17 24 26 Hammersmith and Fulham 22 23 24 25 19 Haringey 35 32 30 17 20 Harrow 39 26 28 12 26 Havering 7 4 5 17 2 Hillingdon 39 34 21 25 34 Hounslow 24 27 26 30 23 Islington 21 23 23 10 13 Kensington and Chelsea 28 26 33 24 18 Kingston upon Thames 25 38 21 31 32 Lambeth 31 23 30 21 20 Lewisham 17 19 14 19 26 Merton 13 15 14 26 31 Newham 14 18 12 10 11 Redbridge 17 14 20 10 8 Richmond upon Thames 32 35 38 47 50 Southwark 25 18 20 15 14 Sutton 16 20 8 13 21 Tower Hamlets 19 17 18 23 23 Waltham Forest 28 25 22 16 15 Wandsworth 14 19 17 21 22 Westminster 26 22 27 18 24 London average 23 24 22 22 23 England 12 13 14 15 17 Source: RSL CORE data
The proportions of all local authority lettings to statutorily homeless households in each London borough for the past five years are provided in the following table. These figures include sheltered and supported housing.
Percentage 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Barking and Dagenham 0 4 21 32 4 Barnet 42 36 33 26 21 Bexley n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Brent 63 52 46 41 53 Bromley n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Camden 33 46 35 36 36 City of London 2 12 5 9 7 Croydon 16 7 15 16 12 Ealing 45 47 52 36 42 Enfield 46 46 44 38 38 Greenwich 35 33 37 34 30 Hackney 36 44 46 44 40 Hammersmith and Fulham 37 37 35 32 23 Haringey 34 32 37 40 44 Harrow 36 34 35 31 28 Havering 10 0 0 26 8 Hillingdon 24 43 39 29 24 Hounslow 43 33 46 54 41 Islington 49 51 53 45 34 Kensington and Chelsea 25 34 30 37 41 Kingston upon Thames 51 51 47 45 39 Lambeth 38 46 56 58 66 Lewisham 30 35 37 42 21 Merton 19 20 24 29 27 Newham 33 20 13 12 16 Redbridge 29 35 27 17 18 Richmond upon Thames n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Southwark 59 54 49 46 36 Sutton 37 26 8 15 20 Tower Hamlets 27 27 32 25 57 Waltham Forest 58 56 41 33 38 Wandsworth 33 37 35 34 37 Westminster 53 44 53 47 47 London average 35 35 36 35 32 England 16 19 23 24 22 Source: HSSA