Homelessness

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 requires local housing authorities to develop a strategic approach to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is currently reviewing and updating its strategy for the 2025 to 2030 period.

The Act places 2 legal duties on local authorities: a "prevention duty" to help people at risk of becoming homeless and a "relief duty" to assist those already homeless.  

A person is considered homeless in a number of ways. The Housing Act 1996 defines a person as homeless if they either:

• have no accommodation available to occupy
• are at risk of violence or domestic abuse
• have accommodation but it is not reasonable for them to continue to occupy it
• have accommodation but cannot secure entry to it
• have no legal right to occupy their accommodation

Poverty, unemployment, and the lack of genuine affordable housing are some of the most common causes of homelessness. These can be made worse by the personal vulnerabilities faced by some of our residents, including:

• mental health
• substance abuse
• trauma
• domestic violence
• offending
• sudden serious illness
• divorce
• the death of a partner
• disabilities

The top 3 reasons for presentation to the Homelessness Service are:

• individuals have been asked to leave accommodation by friends or family
• termination of tenancies by private landlords
• households fleeing domestic abuse

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council commission Short-Term Housing Related Supported Accommodation to help relieve homelessness. There are:

• 88 units for single people experiencing homelessness
• 20 units for families experiencing homelessness

These units offer 7 hours of support for each individual or family staying in them.

The number of those in need of supported accommodation is greater than the number of commissioned accommodations, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council also utilises emergency accommodation in the form of bed and breakfasts.

Demand for social housing also exceeds available supply in Stockton-on-Tees. At the end of 2024 to 2025, 2960 households had an active Tees Valley Home Finder (housing register) account, a 15% increase on the previous year.   

The total number of properties advertised on the site during the same period was only 464. Each property attracted an average of 90 bids.   

People experiencing homelessness are more likely to have a physical health condition like asthma, heart disease, and epilepsy than the general public, and 82% have a mental health diagnosis. Many people experiencing homelessness do not or cannot access GP services. These barriers in accessing support means that people experiencing homelessness are over-reliant on emergency care, with 48% using A&E services in 2021. This percentage is 3 times more than the general population. 

Homelessness can have a devastating impact on children. Over 164,000 children in England are living in temporary or emergency accommodation, the highest number on record. Across England, between 2019 and 2024, temporary accommodation has been a contributing factor to the deaths of 74 children. Being placed in temporary accommodation can also have an impact on childhood learning and development, by creating anxiety and not offering a safe and quiet space to learn.  

Crime has a large impact on the Homelessness Service. Organised Crime Groups (OCG) can have a wide-ranging impact. For example, the service is often required to re-house those who are at risk of harm, which may be caused by the actions, or anticipation of actions, of OCG members, including acts of violence. This also affects the family members and associates of the victims.  

Homelessness also has a large impact on employment. Many people who are experiencing homelessness and who do not have a job would like to work, but there are barriers preventing them from entering the workforce.

Example of barriers are:

• a lack of identification
• the cost of preparing for an interview
• no access to the technology needed to apply

People experiencing homelessness tend to suffer from worse physical and mental health than the general population.

According to the Homelessness Health Needs Audit conducted in 2022, between 2018 to 2021, 63% of homeless respondents had a long-term illness, disability, or infirmity (physical or mental weakness). There was a 37% increase in the number of homeless people with a mental health diagnosis and 45% of respondents reported that they self-medicated with drugs and or alcohol to help them cope.

There also seems to be a correlation between experiencing homelessness (especially rough sleeping and entering emergency accommodation) and a poorer life expectancy than those who have not experienced homelessness. The average age for adults who died while experiencing homelessness in the UK in 2023 was around 50 years for men and women, compared to 79 years for men and 83 years for women in the general population.

There are several key challenges facing the borough's residents, that have an impact on homelessness or rough sleeping.

Social and affordable housing

There is a need to increase available social and affordable housing. We need to ensure access to suitable and affordable Private Sector Accommodation for our residents.

For those most vulnerable residents in need of temporary accommodation, the Short Term Supported Housing contracts expire on 30 September 2026. This will mean the need for re-procurement of contracts.

Case complexity is increasing. We signpost these individuals to support for confronting underlying causes of homelessness.   

Clearing the asylum backlog may have an impact on how many people present to homelessness services, particularly rough sleepers.

There may also be an increase in homelessness presentations because of the early release scheme for some offenders.

Funding

Increasing interest rates has resulted in rent rises, pricing some residents out of the market. Interest and inflation also increased in 2023 to 2024, resulting in large increases to mortgage repayments and household bills.

There is uncertainty around the funding that Local Authority Homelessness Services are provided by central government, which can prevent the ability to plan strategically.  

The forthcoming implementation of the Renter's Right Bill and the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act, as well as the continued influence of the Homelessness Reduction Act will likely have some impact on homelessness presentations.   

Homelessness can have a significant negative impact on the health outcomes of the people experiencing it.

Over the past year, there have been some positive trends in the data recorded by the Homelessness service. However, there is still a need to confront the causes of homelessness to ensure that our residents are supported into homes that are safe, appropriate, and affordable.

Current work

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (SBC) is currently reviewing and updating the Homeless Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy.   

SBC works closely with Registered Providers to ensure good quality, appropriate, and affordable housing is available through Tees Valley Home Finder.   

The Common Allocations Policy for the allocation of bandings for social housing is being updated and the new policy is due to come into force in July 2025, ensuring a fairer waiting list for the most vulnerable residents.

Selective Licensing Schemes in Central Stockton, North Thornaby, and Newtown and the Private Sector Housing Team seek to improve housing conditions for the most vulnerable residents.

There are several Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise Sector organisations in Stockton-on-Tees who actively support those who are homeless or threatened to homelessness. In addition, the Fairer Stockton-on-Tees service area works to help lessen the issues faced by those experiencing homelessness.  

The following resources have been used as references for the analysis of Homelessness in this chapter of the Stockton-on-Tees JSNA.

1. 'Rough Sleeping in England: Causes and Statistics', House of Commons Library, March 2025
2. 'Tables on Homelessness', MHCLG, last updated April 2025
3. 'How Life has Changed in Stockton on Tees: Census 2021', Office for National Statistics, January 2023
4. How life has changed in Stockton-on-Tees: Census 2021