Shelter research – In work, but out of a home (UK)

Over 33,000 families holding down a job despite having nowhere stable to live

Summary

Official figures haven't previously told us much about the types of families who are becoming homeless.

To explore this, Shelter have conducted new analysis of government data. Through this analysis we are able to find out the proportion of homeless families in temporary accommodation, who are in work.

Shelter’s analysis shows that in 2017 55% of families living in temporary accommodation were working. This represents over 33,000 families who were holding down a job despite having nowhere stable to live.

With so many families in work but out of a home, it’s clear that our current housing and benefit system does not adequately support all hard-working families.

Report by Jenny Pennington and Thomas Weekes. Published: July 201