According to new research from the charity Crisis, the number of homeless people in England is higher than official government data suggests.
They say around 189,000 families and individuals facing the worst forms of homelessness, such as rough sleeping, couch surfing and tent living, were not included in official statistics.
Official data is based on people reporting homelessness to a local authority, which Crisis says often does not happen.
The government says it is investing £1bn in homelessness services in 2025/26, an increase of £316m on the previous year.
The charity says the number of people facing the worst forms of homelessness has increased by a fifth since 2022 and is now around 300,000.
They say one of the factors behind these figures is the large increase in the number of people housed in inadequate temporary accommodation.
When someone reports homelessness to local authorities, they may be placed in temporary accommodation while they search for a permanent home.
Crisis research, produced by Herriot-Watt University, says the number of households placed in inadequate temporary accommodation increased from 19,200 in 2020 to 46,700 in 2024.
Inadequate temporary accommodation can include unsafe B&Bs and properties far from family and friends.
They say another 18,600 families live in “unconventional accommodations” such as cars, sheds and tents.
Crisis says many of the people included in its research do not meet the threshold set by the government and councils to be eligible for homeless help, such as those who sleep on friends’ sofas.
Isra came to the UK in 2009, aged six, after her parents fled the war in Iraq.
For most of her childhood, her family was housed in more than 10 different temporary accommodation places in London, which she said were often inadequate.
Isra says that she and her siblings sometimes slept four to a room and that the places where they were staying were often infested with rats.
He says he remembers his mother “going through bags of rice because there were so many rats that we had found rat droppings in our food.”
Isra says the conditions she and her family lived in made it difficult for her to make friends at school or concentrate on her studies.
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said the results of his organisation’s investigation required a “rapid response” from the government.
He said: “No one should be forced to live in unsafe conditions, whether it be children in poor quality boarding houses or people having to sleep on the streets, in tents or in squats.”
Government data published last month found that almost 330,000 households were at risk of becoming homeless in 2024, but these figures included people housed in suitable temporary accommodation and others who ultimately did not lose their current accommodation.
Last month, the government announced an £84m cash boost to help prevent homelessness this winter.
Last year’s Labor election manifesto promised to implement a new homelessness strategy.
He said a Labor government would “develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country, to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness”.
Some Labor leaders are concerned that such a strategy has not yet been launched, but it is expected to happen before the end of the year.
A survey of councils carried out as part of the Crisis research found that 70% had seen an increase in the number of people approaching them for homelessness help in the last year.
A government spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home, which is why we are investing more than £1bn in homelessness services and launching a homelessness strategy to tackle this issue.
“This adds to the acceleration of efforts to address the root causes of homelessness by abolishing Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and expanding access to safe accommodation.”
