- Over a quarter (27%) of the public surveyed say they or someone close to them has experienced housing insecurity in the past five years. Among 18-34s, the figure rises to 47%.
- Almost half of respondents believe homelessness is both a significant issue in their local area (49%) and getting worse (43%).
- On average the public believe that 28% of their council tax goes toward homelessness services - nearly 10 times higher than local authority data suggests.
- Launched in 2026, the Better Society Index is an annual piece of research looking at how social impact investment can support public service delivery across the UK. This year’s Index draws on local authority revenue and expenditure data, nationally representative survey findings and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to examine how homelessness is being recorded, resourced, and experienced in the UK.
10th March 2026 - More than a quarter (27%) of people in the UK say they or someone close to them has experienced housing insecurity in the past five years, according to new research from Better Society Capital (BSC). Among younger adults aged 18-34, this rises to 47%, highlighting the growing prevalence of housing instability across younger generations in the UK.
Housing insecurity includes experiences such as sofa surfing, the risk of eviction, or time spent in temporary accommodation. Together, the findings suggest that housing insecurity has touched the lives of more than 13.5 million people* across the UK in recent years.
Despite this widespread experience, public understanding of how homelessness is funded and addressed locally remains limited. On average, people believe that 28% of their council tax goes toward homelessness services, which is almost ten times higher than preliminary local authority returns suggest. Half of respondents (52%) say they do not know how much is spent in their area.
Over half of the public surveyed (56%) support the use of public-private partnerships to deliver housing and homelessness services, with just 8% opposed, and emphasise proof of value for money, transparency and local accountability as drivers that would increase their level of support. Charities and social enterprises are regarded as the most trustworthy organisations to deliver housing and homelessness services effectively with 71% of respondents saying they would trust them to deliver, followed by housing associations (55%) and local authorities (47%).
Similarly, more than half of respondents (52%) said they would be willing to invest a portion of their own savings or pension in products tackling social issues such as homelessness, provided this had little impact on their financial returns. 10% of respondents overall said they would be willing to do so regardless of the impact on returns. With just 0.05% of total UK pension assets currently allocated to social impact investment - an approach to investing that seeks to tackle social issues generating positive social impact alongside financial returns - this suggests significant untapped potential.**
These pressures are already being felt by councils. Local authorities responding to the inaugural Better Society Index reported a combined £1.65bn in expenditure on homelessness services in 2024/25, with a median year-on-year increase of 10.62% (mean of 18.57%). Temporary accommodation continues to be a major driver of costs, with councils recording more than 3,000 people needing housing every night for the last year alone. At the same time, there is wide variation in both spending and demand between areas, with urban councils typically facing higher levels of pressure.
In more than half of local authorities, cost pressures from homelessness services outstrip entire planning and development budgets and are on par with expenditure on highways and transport services.