Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping: May 2026
Numbers of individuals placed into and living in temporary accommodation, individuals moved to long-term accommodation and rough sleepers.
In this page
Introduction
This publication covers rough sleepers and the provision of temporary and long-term accommodation for homeless people who present to local authorities for housing support.
Detailed breakdowns, including by local authority, can be found on StatsWales (Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping).
Data on households applying to local authorities for housing assistance under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (UK legislation) are also regularly published by Welsh Government. However, users need to be aware of the differences between this monthly data collection and the collection on statutory homelessness.
The Vale of Glamorgan has not provided data since October 2025. Their October 2025 data has been used as an estimate for all subsequent months. See the quality and methodology section for further information on the potential impact of using these estimates.
Main points
- There were 1,263 occurrences of homeless people placed into temporary accommodation in May 2026.
- 10,282 individuals were housed in temporary accommodation on 31 May 2026. The most common type of temporary accommodation was bed and breakfast and hotels, housing 2,505 individuals.
- 667 homeless individuals were moved into suitable long-term accommodation in May 2026.
- There were an estimated 162 individuals sleeping rough throughout Wales on 31 May 2026.
Use of temporary accommodation [footnote 1] [footnote 2] [footnote 3]
Individuals placed into temporary accommodation during the month
Figure 1: occurrences of people placed into temporary accommodation during the month, April 2023 to May 2026
Description of figure 1: a line chart showing that the total occurrences of people, children under 16 and those aged 16 to 24 placed into temporary accommodation fluctuates. The data is described in more detail in the text that follows.
Source: Welsh local authority homelessness services
Since April 2023, the number of homeless individuals placed into temporary accommodation has displayed notable fluctuations. Each year the lowest number of placements is recorded in December. Excluding December, placements have fluctuated between around 1,200 and 1,400 since January 2025.
The highest recorded figure was 1,785 in August 2023, whilst the lowest was 1,002 in December 2024. A similar pattern is evident in the placement of children under 16, with placements peaking at 480 in August 2023 before falling to 168 in December 2024. For individuals aged 16 to 24, the monthly figures have fluctuated between 170 and 250 since January 2025.
In May 2026 there were 1,263 occurrences of homeless people placed into temporary accommodation. This is lower than the figure recorded for May in each of the last 3 years.
267 placements were dependent children aged under 16. This is also lower than the figure recorded for May in each of the last 3 years. 195 placements were individuals aged 16 to 24 years old, which is lower than the number recorded in May in both years for which data is available.
There have been 15,312 placements into temporary accommodation in the last 12 months. Repeat placements are common; 17% of placements into temporary accommodation in May 2026 were of individuals who had previously been placed into temporary accommodation within the last 12 months.
Figure 2: occurrences of people placed into temporary accommodation by reason for homelessness, May 2026
Description of figure 2: a bar chart indicating that the most common reasons for the placement of individuals into temporary accommodation are being moved from unsuitable accommodation and ‘other’.
Source: Welsh local authority homelessness services
Of the placements into temporary accommodation during May 2026, most occurrences resulted from individuals being moved from unsuitable accommodation (489 occurrences), followed by ‘other’ (444 occurrences). These two categories account for over 73% of the reasons for homelessness.
‘Other’ circumstances include homeless at home, homeless in emergency (for example after a fire or flood), returned from abroad and any other reason for homelessness not explicitly mentioned in the categories above.
Accommodation can be unsuitable for several reasons such as overcrowding, risk of violence, environmental issues, house needing adaption after discharge from hospital or the resident requiring new supported accommodation.
Homeless individuals in temporary accommodation at 31 May 2026
Figure 3: homeless individuals living in temporary accommodation at the end of the month, April 2023 to May 2026
Description of figure 3: a line chart displaying the fluctuations in the total number of homeless individuals and the number of children under 16 in temporary accommodation at the end of the month. The data is described in more detail in the text that follows.
Source: Welsh local authority homelessness services
From April 2023 there was a gradual increase in the number of individuals in temporary accommodation, reaching a peak of 11,721 in February 2024. Since then, numbers have decreased slightly.
At 31 May 2026, 10,282 individuals were in temporary accommodation, which is lower than the number recorded during May in each of the last 3 years. 2,219 of these were dependent children aged under 16, which is also lower than the number recorded during May in each of the last 3 years. The number of dependent children in temporary accommodation has remained stable in recent months, with numbers remaining below 2,500 since November 2025.
Figure 4: homeless individuals temporarily accommodated, by type of accommodation, 31 May 2026
Description of figure 4: a bar chart showing that the type of accommodation housing the largest number of homeless individuals is bed and breakfast and hotels (2,505), followed by local authority stock (2,457), hostels (1,983) and private sector accommodation (1,920).
Source: Welsh local authority homelessness services
The type of accommodation temporarily housing the most individuals at the end of May 2026 was bed and breakfast and hotels with 24% of all individuals, of which 9% (215) were dependent children under 16 years old. Following this, local authority stock, hostels and private sector accommodation were the other most common types of accommodation utilised across Wales, though this varied between local authorities (see StatsWales for local authority breakdowns). Children under 16 are most commonly housed in local authority stock, private sector accommodation and RSL stock.
Homeless individuals moved into suitable long-term accommodation
Figure 5: homeless individuals moved into suitable long-term accommodation during the month, April 2023 to May 2026
Description of figure 5: a line chart showing that the total number of homeless individuals and children under 16 moved into suitable long-term accommodation fluctuates each month. The data is described in more detail in the text that follows.
Source: Welsh local authority homelessness services
Since April 2023, the number of homeless individuals moved into suitable long-term accommodation has fluctuated between roughly 600 to just over 900 individuals each month. These figures have varied month to month without a consistent trend. For children under 16 years old, the numbers have similarly fluctuated, ranging from roughly 190 to just over 300 individuals.
In May 2026, 667 homeless individuals were moved into suitable long-term accommodation. Of these, 190 were dependent children aged under 16. Both of these figures are higher than those recorded in May 2025 but lower than those recorded in May 2024 and May 2023.
Rough sleepers
Figure 6: number of rough sleepers in Wales, April 2023 to May 2026 [footnote 4] [footnote 5]
Description of figure 6: a line chart displaying the fluctuation in the number of rough sleepers throughout the year. Numbers peaked at 204 in August 2024 and dropped to a low of 116 in February 2024, December 2024 and April 2025.
Source: Welsh local authority homelessness services
Rough sleepers by local authority (StatsWales)
On 31 May 2026, there were an estimated 162 individuals sleeping rough throughout Wales. This is higher than the number recorded on 31 May in each of the last 3 years.
Cardiff (45), Swansea (18), Bridgend (16), Pembrokeshire (15) and Torfaen (14) were the local authorities reporting the highest numbers of individuals sleeping rough. All other local authorities reported 11 or fewer individuals sleeping rough, with 4 local authorities reporting zero.
Footnotes
[1] Neath Port Talbot’s ‘other’ figures are for households and not individuals.
[2] Disclosure control has been applied to the figures for placements into temporary accommodation and to accompanying data on StatsWales. Figures smaller than 3 have been supressed and shown as a ‘*’. All other figures are rounded independently to the nearest 3.
[3] Vale of Glamorgan’s October 2025 data has been used to estimate occurrences of people placed into temporary accommodation for November 2025 onwards. Please see the quality and methodology section for more information.
[4] Vale of Glamorgan’s October 2025 data has been used to estimate the number of rough sleepers, for November 2025 onwards. This is likely to have little impact on the Wales total for these months, as Vale of Glamorgan have reported zero rough sleepers since September 2023, and did so again in October 2025.
[5] Local authorities are asked to base these estimates on local intelligence, rather than a one-night count.
Quality and methodology information
This monthly data collection was introduced during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic initially as Management Information. These data have since undergone the appropriate quality assurance protocols for Official Statistics. The data may be revised in future. Therefore, the figures for the latest month should be treated as provisional.
Following the introduction of this collection, Welsh Government worked with local authorities to develop this publication and to strengthen the data collection guidance and improve data quality. As a result of this development, data quality improved from April 2023; therefore, the Wales-level data series starts from this time point. Not all data is available at local authority level from this date. Local authority breakdowns are provided from the point where relevant guidance had been introduced and used by local authorities.
We do not recommend making month-to-month comparisons, as there may be seasonal impacts on homelessness or other reasons for fluctuations.
Most statistics in this release refer to number of individuals. However, for placements into temporary accommodation the statistics refer to number of occurrences of placements, as individuals may be placed more than once.
The Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping quality report accompanies this statical release and is available on the Welsh Government website. The report provides detailed information on the data sources, methodology, and quality considerations, helping users to better understand and interpret the statistics.
Due to an unexpected system disruption following an upgrade, Vale of Glamorgan have not provided data since October 2025. In agreement with the local authority, their October 2025 data has been used as an estimate for all subsequent months. This applies to the following measures:
- occurrences of people placed into temporary accommodation during the month
- homeless individuals living in temporary accommodation at the end of the month
- homeless individuals moved into suitable long-term accommodation during the month
- number of rough sleepers
Based on data from previous years, the October 2025 figure used as an estimate for the number of placements into temporary accommodation is likely to be an overestimate for the months of December 2025 to March 2026, resulting in a slight over-estimation of the Wales total. There is no such trend between data from October and any of November, April or May. In previous years, other measures have not changed much for Vale of Glamorgan between October and December to May. Please refer to the March 2026 release, Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping: March 2026, for further information.
Revisions
Where revisions have occurred since the publication of last month’s data, figures will differ from those previously published. Figures that have been revised since previously published are marked with an [r].
This month there have been revisions to the number of homeless individuals living in temporary accommodation at the end of April 2026.
Neath Port Talbot revised its April 2026 temporary accommodation figures, reducing the number of individuals in temporary accommodation at the end of the month from 405 to 373, while increasing the number of individuals aged under 16 from 62 to 66.
Statutory homelessness
It is important to note the following differences between this monthly data collection and our publications on statutory homelessness:
The monthly information relates to the number of individuals experiencing homelessness and being supported by local authorities into emergency accommodation or suitable long-term accommodation.
Our collections on statutory homelessness capture data on number of households, not individuals. That data relates to homelessness as defined by the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (UK legislation).
Rough sleeping
For this data collection, local authorities are asked to base their estimates on local intelligence, rather than the methodology employed for the previous rough sleeper counts.
In August 2024, the previous Welsh Government made the decision to cease the annual national rough sleeper count with immediate effect. Further details can be found in the Proposals to stop the annual national rough sleeper count: summary of responses.
Due to the different methodologies, it is not appropriate to compare rough sleeping figures from this monthly collection with those from previous annual rough sleeper counts.
Statutory homelessness statistics for the other UK countries
In June 2025, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published Homelessness in the UK: 2004 to 2024 (ONS), which provides a comprehensive overview of homelessness trends and the comparability of data across the four nations in the UK. The report highlights that while efforts have been made to improve the coherence of homelessness statistics, significant differences remain due to the devolved nature of housing and homelessness legislation.
Each UK country continues to collect and report homelessness data based on its own legal definitions and administrative systems, which limits the ability to make direct comparisons. Although broad trends can be compared, there is still no harmonised definition of homelessness for UK official statistics. The report builds on earlier work by the Government Statistical Service (GSS), which in 2019 published the Harmonisation of Definitions of Homelessness for UK Official Statistics: A Feasibility Report (GSS) which concluded that harmonisation was not feasible in the short term due to these structural differences.
Individual level data collection
Currently, homelessness data in Wales is gathered through aggregate returns from local authorities, providing information on households applying for housing assistance and the outcomes of those applications. Work is ongoing to transition to a new data collection approach that will capture individual-level data on homelessness applicants. We believe this shift will enhance our understanding of homelessness in Wales and ultimately support efforts to improve outcomes for vulnerable individuals.
Following the conclusion of a data pilot that took place at the end of 2025, with a small selection of local authorities, which sought to simulate the proposed quarterly data collections, it was agreed that the new data collection would not fully ‘go-live’ from the original April 2026 launch date. Instead, we will continue to pilot the new collection in phased stages between April 2026 and April 2027. This will give time to improve data quality, complete General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, and further develop systems.
Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics
All of our statistics are produced and published in accordance with a number of statements and protocols to enhance trustworthiness, quality and value. These are set out in the Welsh Government’s Statement of Compliance.
These official statistics demonstrate the standards expected around trustworthiness, quality and public value in the following ways.
Trustworthiness
These statistics are based on monthly returns directly from local authority homelessness services. Figures are checked and queried where necessary by Welsh Government statisticians.
Quality
The published figures provided are compiled by professional analysts using the latest available data and applying methods using their professional judgement and analytical skillset. Statistics published by Welsh Government adhere to the Statistical Quality Management Strategy which supplements the Quality pillar of the Code of Practice for Statistics (UK Statistics Authority) and the European Statistical System principles of quality for statistical outputs.
Most of the data included comes from administrative sources which are used in the management of homelessness services. The data is dependent on local authorities maintaining accurate records.
Further information on data quality is available in the quality report.
Value
The purpose of the statistical release is to provide evidence for policy development, support the effective implementation of the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026, enable local authorities to monitor and benchmark their services against those of other local authorities in Wales, and inform the public about homelessness provision and rough sleeping across Wales.
The release is as timely as possible whilst maintaining reliability, with generally around a 2-month lag between the data currency and availability. Making this information available monthly provides a regular source of data on the provision of homelessness accommodation and rough sleeping.
Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)
The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.
Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Wellbeing of Wales report.
The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.