The Centre for Homelessness Impact collaborated with IPSOS to ask the British citizens what they think about homelessness. The full report looks in detail at public sentiments and analyses shifts in opinion over recent years. 

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Findings: 

Polling from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland revealed that 83% of respondents think homelessness is a very serious or fairly serious problem. 

‍Concern about homelessness is on the rise in Wales and Scotland, with levels of concern rising by 5 percentage points in Wales and 7 percentage points in Scotland since similar questions were posed in 2022. 

‍The majority of UK respondents felt that homelessness was a serious problem outside of their local area, however this was in contrast to respondents from London where 63% reported that homelessness was a problem within fifteen or twenty minutes of where they live. 

Most people are not confident that homelessness in the UK will decrease in the next few years. A quarter are not at all confident. 

Around one in three people with a mortgage and almost half of renters say they’re concerned about being able to afford housing costs. 

‍56% of mortgage-holders revealed that their housing costs were having an impact on their mental health and causing either a fair amount or great deal of stress. For renters, this impact was worse, with 61% of social renters reporting the same problems and 63% of those in the private rented sector. 

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