Homelessness: July to September 2018

Homelessness prevention

• During July to September 2018, 2,655 households were assessed as threatened with homelessness within 56 days. This was 9% higher than the previous quarter and 12% higher than the same quarter in 2017.
• Homelessness was successfully prevented for at least 6 months in 65% of cases. This compares with 66% in the previous quarter and 67% during the same quarter last year.
• In 16% of cases prevention was unsuccessful and other outcomes accounted for the remaining 19%.

Relief of homelessness

• During July to September 2018, 2,703 households were assessed as homeless and owed a duty to help secure accommodation. This is 4% lower the previous quarter and 5% lower than for the July to September quarter 2017.
• In 41% of cases, the local authority successfully helped to secure accommodation that was likely to last for 6 months. This was slightly higher than the 40% recorded in the previous quarter but similar to the proportion recorded a year earlier.
• For 37% of households, the local authority was unsuccessful in securing such accommodation. Other outcomes accounted for the remaining 22%.

Priority need

• During July to September 2018, 582 households were assessed to be unintentionally homeless and in priority need. This was 3% lower than the previous quarter but 18% higher than the same quarter in 2017.
• 80% of all households assessed as unintentionally homeless and in priority need accepted an offer of permanent accommodation. This compares with 76% in the previous quarter and 81% in the same quarter a year earlier.

Households in temporary accommodation

• At the end of September 2018, there were 2,124 households in temporary accommodation (3% higher than at the end of September 2017). This is the second highest number to date.
• Private sector accommodation continued to be the main form of temporary accommodation used. It accounted for 37% of households in temporary accommodation at the end of September 2018 (compared with 39% a year earlier).
• At the end of September 2018, 252 households were in bed and breakfast accommodation. This was an increase of almost a quarter (24%) on the previous year. Of these, 33 households (13%) were families with children which is similar to the number recorded a year earlier.

Notes

The data may be subject to quarterly fluctuations and seasonal factors such as holidays and weather. These statistics are not seasonally adjusted.

The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 included changes to statutory homelessness legislation which were introduced on 27 April 2015. The data shown in this headline and report are not comparable with the statutory homelessness data published for 2014-15 or earlier years due to the legislative changes. Additional information is available within the accompanying Quality Report.