Understanding the Homelessness Reduction Act, 2017

The Homelessness Reduction Act is a law which aims to reduce homelessness by providing help to those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Article updated: November 2026

Background of the Homelessness Reduction Act

The Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) 2017 significantly reformed England's homelessness legislation. Its main provisions commenced on 3 April 2018 and amended Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996; the separate duty to refer took effect on 1 October 2018. The Act placed new duties on housing authorities to intervene earlier and to take reasonable steps to prevent and relieve homelessness for eligible applicants, not just those with priority need.

The HRA was introduced based on the work of an independent panel of experts established by Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, and draws heavily on changes made to the Welsh homeless legislation in 2015. The Act was designed to fix several problems with how the law was working in practice. There was a lack of meaningful advice and assistance. Some local authorities only helped at crisis point. And single people without priority need, or people who were 'intentionally homeless', had little protection.

The Act has three main aims. The first is to stop more people becoming homeless in the first place, by identifying people at risk and stepping in earlier with solutions that have evidence behind them. The second is to step in rapidly if a homelessness crisis happens, so it is brief and does not happen again. The third is to help more people recover from and leave homelessness, getting them back on their feet.

The HRA shifted the focus to prevention, gave more weight to helping single people and joined up services, especially for people leaving prison or hospital and other groups at increased risk of homelessness, such as people fleeing domestic abuse and care leavers.

What is the Homelessness Reduction Act?

The Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) 2017 has brought about a significant change in the approach to tackling homelessness, with a focus on prevention. Councils must help eligible people sooner, when they are likely to become homeless within 56 days.

Local housing authorities must assess eligible applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and agree a personalised housing plan. Specified public authorities have a narrower duty: with the person's consent, they must refer someone they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to an English local housing authority.

These homelessness duties apply only in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland operate separate statutory systems. The Act amended Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996. It works alongside the Homelessness Act 2002, which requires councils to review homelessness in their area and publish a strategy.

What the Homelessness Reduction Act Means

In practice, councils in England must now give eligible people who are homeless or at risk an assessment, a personalised plan and reasonable steps to help them keep or find a home.

Local housing authorities must provide free homelessness information and advice. The prevention and relief duties apply to eligible applicants regardless of priority need or intentional homelessness, but they do not guarantee that every applicant will be provided with a home. If prevention and relief do not find someone a home, the council must secure suitable accommodation if the person is eligible, has priority need and did not become homeless intentionally. Pregnant women, families with children and people made homeless by domestic abuse have priority need.

Housing authorities have a duty to carry out an assessment of the situation and work with the affected person to develop a Personalised Housing Plan or PHP. The plan sets out the reasonable steps the authority and the person will take to prevent or relieve homelessness.

Before the Act, someone was treated as at risk of homelessness if they were likely to become homeless within 28 days. The Act extended that period to 56 days. This meant that housing authorities must work with people to prevent homelessness at an earlier stage. This is known as the extended prevention duty.

Local authorities must also take reasonable steps to help eligible applicants who are already homeless to secure accommodation. This relief duty normally lasts 56 days unless it ends earlier in another legally specified way; a council may continue it longer.

Housing authorities have a duty to take reasonable steps to help prevent any eligible person from becoming homeless by helping them to remain in their current home or assisting them to find a new home before they become homeless.

Since 1 October 2018, specified public authorities in England have had a duty, with the individual's consent, to refer service users they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to a local housing authority in England. These public bodies include prisons, specified hospital services, probation services and Jobcentres in England.

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 also gave care leavers a local connection with the area of the council that still owes them leaving-care support. Someone who lived in care in a district for at least two years, some of it before they turned 16, also has a local connection there until they turn 21.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021: The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 made some changes to homelessness legislation. This Act grants "priority need" to all eligible victims of domestic abuse who are homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse. It also introduces a new definition of domestic abuse.

Successes and Failures of the Homelessness Reduction Act

Councils have reported both improvements and problems since the Act came in.

• The Act widened prevention and relief help beyond applicants with priority need, although eligibility rules still apply and the duties do not guarantee a home.
• Some local authorities are struggling to provide the help they are now required to provide.
• Some councils said the funding they received did not cover the cost of putting the Act into practice. Councils receive funding for homelessness work through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant from 2026/27.
• People who are at risk of becoming homeless can receive help at an earlier point before they actually become homeless rather than having to wait until they are homeless. The Act made that early help a legal duty for councils in England, starting 56 days before someone is likely to lose their home.
• The number of households in temporary accommodation, such as hotels and B&Bs, rose in the year after the Act came in. Bed and breakfasts are generally unsuitable for families with children, and temporary accommodation is expensive for councils.
• Councils in many areas reported a shortage of affordable housing.
• A 2020 government review found that some councils relied on private rented homes to meet their homelessness duties. Some private landlords are reluctant to house those on benefits.
• The service available can be inconsistent, depending on the ability and finances of the particular local authority. Getting help under the Homelessness Reduction Act can be something of a postcode lottery.

A government evaluation report found that 29% of the councils surveyed strongly agreed that the 56-day prevention duty helped them prevent homelessness more effectively. In the government's 2020 call for evidence, 52% of responses reported better help for people who previously received little support.

Homelessness Targets - Have They Been Met?

The government missed its pledge to end rough sleeping. That pledge covered rough sleeping, not homelessness as a whole.

The current England strategy, A National Plan to End Homelessness, sets a target to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament.

The latest annual official rough sleeping snapshot for autumn 2025 estimated that 4,793 people were sleeping rough on one night in England. This was a record high and the fourth annual rise: 126 people (3%) more than in 2024, 42 people (1%) above the former 2017 peak, and 3,025 people (171%) more than in 2010.

The snapshot is a single-night estimate. It is not the total number of people who are homeless, or who sleep rough over a year, and it cannot establish why rough sleeping changed.

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