Matt Downie

Chief executive Matt Downie said the charity was planning to buy its own housing stock because the shortage of social housing and the cost of renting from private landlords meant this was the “only option left”.

Under the initiative, which was first reported by the Guardian, Crisis is hoping to buy 100 homes in London and Newcastle over the next three years to house people experiencing homelessness who are accessing the charity’s services.

“We don’t want to do this, but if nobody else is going to provide housing, we’ll do it ourselves,” Matt Downie said.

“It’s something that would have been inconceivable for my predecessors 10, 30, 50 years ago, because people would have expected both councils and housing associations to provide the stock needed for people on low incomes. It’s just no longer available.

“We wouldn’t be doing this unless the wheels had come off the homelessness and housing system.”

If the scheme is successful, it could then be rolled out to other parts of the country, with an ambition to buy at least 1,000 homes over the next decade.

The announcement comes as new research by Crisis found nearly 300,000 families and individuals in England are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness - a 21% increase since 2022.

The state of the nation report, commissioned by Crisis and led by Heriot-Watt University, shows that 299,100 households in England experienced acute homelessness in 2024. This is an increase of 21% since 2022 (when there were 246,900 households) and a 45% increase since 2012 (206,400 households). 

The number of people having to sleep rough and households having to stay in unsuitable temporary accommodation increased by around 150% each since 2020 levels, with more than 15,000 people sleeping rough last year alone.

A national survey of England’s councils, featured in the research, also revealed that 70% have seen an increase in the numbers approaching them for homelessness assistance in the last year. Overall, local authorities in London and across the north of England reported the biggest increases. 

Councils across the country cited a lack of affordable housing and insufficient welfare support as fuelling record homelessness and forcing them to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on temporary accommodation which is not fit for people’s needs. This includes a growing number of children. In total, councils in England spent £732 million on the most unsuitable forms of emergency accommodation in 2023/24. The cost of temporary accommodation as a whole was £2.7 billion for 2024/25.  

With demand at a record high, Crisis is urging the Westminster Government to deliver the homelessness strategy that Labour promised in its manifesto. Ministers recently confirmed that this will be delivered by Christmas. The charity says that this strategy must be introduced without delay and address the three key areas highlighted in this report: the shortage of social homes, insufficient welfare support and gaps in support systems. 

Earlier this year, Westminster committed £39bn for a “new generation” of social and affordable homes to deal with England’s housing crisis, with 180,000 new social homes to be built over the next ten years. However, just last month the Government cut affordable housing targets in London from 35% to 20%, with the aim of speeding up the delivery of housing. Crisis has questioned whether this approach will have the stated impact and urged ministers to provide ‘cast iron guarantees’ that social housing building will happen at scale. 

To address the lack of adequate welfare support, ahead of the Autumn Budget on 26th November, the charity is calling for housing benefit to be restored so that it reflects the true cost of private rents and prevents people on low incomes losing their homes. Recent data from Zoopla shows that just 2.7% of private rented properties in England are currently affordable for people receiving housing benefit.  

It is also urging UK ministers to fix gaps in support services, to stop people ending up with nowhere to live after leaving institutions. The new research shows that homelessness resulting from evictions from UK asylum accommodation was up by 37% in the last year, influenced by the acceleration of Home Office decisions on claims. At the same time, homelessness resulting from discharge from hospitals, prisons and other institutions went up 22% in the last year. This is likely in part the result of the UK Government’s early prison release scheme which has added pressure on council finances.  

Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis, said: “These shocking new findings require a rapid response from the UK Government. No one should be forced to live in unsafe conditions, whether it’s children in poor-quality B&Bs or people having to sleep on the streets, in tents or in squats.  

“We strongly welcomed the UK Government’s commitment of £39bn for social and affordable housing. However, with councils across the country being pushed into effective bankruptcy because of the rising bill for temporary accommodation, we need a bold new approach to tackling homelessness. Ministers must deliver on their manifesto pledge to get the country back on track to ending homelessness, including a guarantee that social homes will be delivered as quickly as possible and at scale.  

“The government has said that it wants to see an immediate fall in homelessness levels. For this to be true, ministers must also focus their efforts on preventing it from happening in the first place. By restoring housing benefit in this month’s Autumn Budget so that it covers the true cost of rents, we can stop thousands of households from losing their homes.  Homelessness can also be prevented by fixing gaps in support services, so that people do not end up with nowhere to live after leaving institutions like prisons and hospitals. 

“With winter approaching, and pressure on councils expected to grow, Westminster must take this opportunity to fix the sharpest end of the housing crisis.”  

Professor Beth Watts-Cobbe, from Heriot-Watt University, said: “It’s deeply concerning that almost 300,000 families and individuals across England are now experiencing the most acute forms of homelessness on any given night. Our new analysis shows how the lack of affordable housing and insufficient welfare support is driving this crisis and that councils are seriously struggling to fulfil their duties to support people who are homeless into safe and stable housing. 

“Our analysis also makes clear that more people will lose their homes if current policies continue. We need urgent action from the UK Government to address this – by bringing forward its strategy for tackling all forms of homelessness urgently and dealing with the key policy areas outlined in this report.  

“This includes ensuring that social housing is prioritised for people who are in serious need, so that councils do not have to spend huge sums of money housing people in temporary accommodation which is often poor quality, unsuitable and leaves people in limbo. Ramping up efforts to prevent homelessness is absolutely essential and the surest means to do this include restoring housing benefit to match the cost of private rent and bridging woeful gaps in support services to help people maintain their tenancies.”