Charities urge government to unfreeze LHA rates as homelessness surges

Rough sleeping and homelessness figures reach record highs as charities calls for the government to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.

According to government figures, an estimated 4,793 people slept rough on a single night in Autumn 2025, the highest since records began.

The figures also reveal the number of households seeking council support for homelessness has also increased.

Rise in temporary accommodation

According to government figures, the North East and North West regions reported the highest increases in rates of people sleeping rough since 2024.

The North East rates rose by 31% on last year and 158% on three years ago. Rates of rough sleeping in the North West rose 20% compared to last year and 74% compared to three years earlier.

The figures also show a rise in the number of people in temporary accommodation. At the end of last September, 175,990 children in England were living in emergency accommodation, marking the 11th consecutive record high.

There were also 134,760 households in temporary accommodation, another record high.

Bleak picture

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, is calling on the government to unfreeze LHA rates.

He said: “The figures paint a bleak picture of the state of the nation. People are being forced to sleep on the streets at unprecedented levels, exposed to danger and violence. Thousands more people are then hidden from the official statistics, particularly women forced to sleep rough.

“The government must drastically increase the supply of genuinely affordable homes. We need to pull every lever possible to deliver more social housing, including bringing forward investment to build social homes now, setting minimum targets and repurposing empty homes.

“There was a net loss of nearly 4,000 social homes in England last year, twice as many as we lost the year before. With thousands of people, including children, without a safe and stable home, ministers need to be delivering up to 90,000 new social homes a year, not moving backwards.

“And to prevent homelessness increasing yet further, the government could also decide  to unfreeze housing benefit so more people can avoid the trauma of losing their home. We need to see homelessness being treated like the national emergency it is.”

National scandal

Shelter is also calling on the government to unfreeze LHA rates.

Sarah Elliott, chief executive of Shelter, said: “It is a national scandal that the number of people homeless in England is now the highest since records began. The government is absolutely right to recognise the problem, but all the support in the world won’t help people into a home if there simply aren’t any available. We need bold action to end the housing emergency for good.

“Tonight thousands of people will be sleeping out, cold and alone, in a flimsy tent or doorway. Meanwhile, far too many children will lie awake, exhausted, after being uprooted from their homes and pushed into often cramped and grotty temporary accommodation. In modern day England, there is no need for thousands of people to endure homelessness, when the government has the power to make it a thing of the past.

“The record numbers currently homeless simply cannot wait any longer for a secure home. Rather than focusing on quick fixes, the government must tackle the problem at its root. It must deliver at least 90,000 social rent homes a year for 10 years, and urgently unfreeze housing benefit to end homelessness.”

LHA rates frozen

The government has confirmed housing benefit rates will remain frozen for a second year in a row in 2026/27.

According to government data, almost 1.7 million private rented households across the country were receiving housing cost support as of August this year, and 53% of these households faced a gap between their housing benefit payments and their monthly rent.

As previously reported on Property118, only 1% of London rental homes are affordable under LHA rates.