Homelessness, rough sleeping and temporary accommodation

We frequently receive Freedom of Information (FOI) requests regarding homelessness, rough sleeping and temporary accommodation. We have published a variety of previous FOI responses relating to these topics in our disclosure log.

Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is one of our Strategic Priorities. For the purposes of transparency and openness, we have compiled comprehensive information regarding these common topics below.

Data

The government publishes local councils’ statistics on homelessness, rough sleeping and temporary accommodation, you can access the data online on the GOV.UK. Please note that there is a delay in the government updating this dataset by two quarters.

We also hold the following data on temporary accommodation:

Number of households in temporary accommodation per month in 2022/23

Month	Total number of households	Homelessness Duty	RSI/Discretionary
April	174	141	33
May	177	148	29
June	182	156	26
July	184	161	23
August	192	167	25
September	200	176	24
October	206	180	26
November	215	186	29
December	235	202	33
January	250	220	30
February	254	225	29
March	269	240	29

Number of households in temporary accommodation per month in 2023/24

Month	Total number of households	Homelessness Duty	RSI/Discretionary
April	255	229	26
May	240	214	26
June	268	237	31
July	272	246	26
August	294	263	31
September	285	258	27
October	276	253	32
November	270	238	32
December	283	244	39
January	312	262	50
February	293	242	51
March	286	229	57

Number of households in temporary accommodation per month in 2024/25

Month	Total number of households	Homelessness Duty	RSI/Discretionary
April	275	232	43
May	283	245	38
June	290	252	38
July	277	250	35
August	284	250	34
September	280	245	35
October	296	259	35
November	302	257	45
December	301	259	42
January	317	271	46
February	316	277	41
March	323	290	33

Number of households in temporary accommodation per month in 2025/26

Month	Total number of households	Homelessness Duty	RSI/Discretionary
April	307	281	26
May	300	275	27
June	302	277	35
July	309	284	23
August	301	274	27
September	274	250	25
October	262	233	29
November	254	222	32
December	245	210	35

Costs of temporary accommodation

Year	TA expenditure
2022/23	£2,183,808
2023/24	£4,034,994
2024/25	£4,315,166

Rough Sleeping

Under the Rough Sleeping Initiative for 2022-2025, the government has provided local councils with long-term funding to support people sleeping rough or at risk of rough sleeping. A share of £500 million was allocated to councils across England; Maidstone Borough Council was allocated £1,758,171.

Find information regarding funding allocations for the 2021-2022 Rough Sleeping Initiative on GOV.UK.

As part of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative, approximately 15,000 people across England who were sleeping rough, in unsafe communal settings or at imminent risk of rough sleeping were placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to help these people remain in accommodation, the government allocated funding to local councils under their Next Steps Accommodation Programme.

We do not use the government’s Rough Sleeping Support Service.

Homelessness due to domestic abuse

Homelessness applications are sometimes made due to domestic abuse. We publish information and advice regarding domestic abuse on our Domestic abuse page.

Anyone who is experiencing domestic abuse and approaches us as homeless has an automatic "Priority Need" under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. All cases, including those that do not meet the criteria, are recorded. The circumstances in which a case would not meet the criteria are set out in the Homelessness Code of Guidance.

Data regarding homelessness applications made due to domestic abuse is published online on GOV.UK. Please note that there is a delay in the government updating this dataset by two quarters.

We do not hold any data on destitution (poverty) due to domestic abuse.

Kent housing group

We are a member of the Kent Housing Group, which is a forum made up of all local councils in Kent and Medway, housing associations, Homes England and other housing support organisations.