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homeless shelter Emergency accommodation and emergency accommodation facilities across the UK are preparing for an influx of rough sleepers as temperatures drop below freezing. charity Warning about lack of affordable housing Pushing more and more people onto the streets.
Councils across the country, including North Somerset Council and Bristol City Council, have activated Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) measures to ensure people have access to shelter at nightTemperatures will be as low as -3°C in some areas.
There was additional support in London, where Mayor Sadiq Khan said the cold could be “dangerous and often fatal” for people on the streets.
Figures released by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) between April 2024 and March 2025 show that 13,231 people are sleeping rough in London, a 10% increase on the previous year.
This is 63% higher than the figure in 2015/2016, with 50% of people spoken to by outreach workers having mental health support needs.
According to charity Shelter, new research published in December found There are 382,618 people homeless in the UK, including 175,025 children. Of these, at least 4,667 people were sleeping rough on any given night, a 20 per cent increase on last year, and a further 16,294 people were living in hotels and other homeless accommodation.
Francesca Albanese, director of policy and social change at Crisis Group, said: “We have seen a huge increase in temporary accommodation, with record numbers of people using it. Social housing is insufficient and unaffordable for the private sector, and this has been going on for decades.”
“It’s very disturbing for individuals and being homeless is very isolating and dangerous. With shelters and emergency accommodation, people can come in for a few days when the weather is cold, but it’s difficult to get the support someone might need and connect them to the right services long-term.”
Although many emergency shelters across the UK are open for referrals, charities are aware that the cold weather is causing these to fill up quickly and often only women-only beds remain.
Ms Albanese added: “These shelters are facing their own pressures on supply as we see an increase in the number of people sleeping rough but we have not seen a huge increase in funding for emergency accommodation. “This type of emergency supply is vital and saves lives, we know people are not surviving when temperatures plummet and we know it doesn’t cover everyone so more is needed.”
The UK Health Safety Authority (UKHSA) has issued an Amber Cold Health Alert for England until Friday as a warning that adverse temperatures may affect health and wellbeing.
Some severe weather warnings expired on Monday morning, but ice and snow warnings remained in force for much of Scotland north of Glasgow, parts of Wales and the south-west and eastern England stretching to the Scottish border.
“It’s a very dangerous time for people to be sleeping rough,” said Ffion Nicholas, hotline manager at youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. “One of the ideas among the public is that if you’re homeless you’ll get help from the council. A lot of people have been left out. Young people in the past have been couch surfing, but more and more we’re hearing about them sleeping on the streets.”
Charities also warn that, as well as young people, they are seeing increasing numbers of pensioners becoming homeless due to a freeze on housing benefit, a lack of adequate pensions, rising energy bills and reduced family support.
“We continue to see people over 65 joining our service,” Ms Albanese said. “Older generations no longer have pensions and security, we have people facing very high housing costs, mortgage repayments are impossible and people are being forced into the private rented sector. The older you are, the more likely you are to be affected by health conditions and this is also happening due to stress and wider concerns about housing conditions.”
Crisis, Shelter and Centrepoint all acknowledged that while Labour’s £39bn investment in affordable housing over the next decade was “very welcome”, they warned that those on the edge of homelessness or sleeping rough need housing immediately.
On Tuesday night, the Met Office warned that temperatures would once again drop below freezing in much of the country, with minimums over snow likely to drop to -12C.
Persistent winter showers will first hit parts of Wales and southwest England on Tuesday, according to forecasters.
A mix of rain, sleet and snow will move south-east across Scotland and Northern Ireland, then into parts of Wales and England, with further damaging snow likely over central and northern Scotland late Tuesday morning into the evening.