The number of families living in temporary accommodation has doubled over the last decade. Across London, local authorities are under growing pressure to meet statutory homelessness duties in the face of rising rents, housing shortages and the cost-of-living crisis.

Much of the system's capacity is focused on responding to homelessness once it has occurred. Families can spend years in temporary accommodation, often far from their communities, schools and support networks. For children, prolonged housing instability can have significant consequences for health, educational attainment and development.

Nearly half of family homelessness in London is caused by the loss of a tenancy (48%), while exclusion from family or friends is the second most common cause (22%). Many families experience financial stress and housing instability long before they seek help from homelessness services.

What are Family Hubs?

Family Hubs bring together different services in a ‘one stop shop’ to make it easier for families to get the help and support they need. They provide a single place to go for face-to-face support and information from a variety of services.

They are often one of the first places where financial pressures, relationship difficulties and other signs of instability become visible. Although they are not designed as housing services, they may offer an opportunity to identify housing risk earlier and connect families to support before problems escalate into homelessness.

This potential is significant, but it has not yet been systematically tested.

What are we testing?

While previous programmes such as Sure Start highlighted the difficulty of evidencing system-level prevention outcomes, more than two decades of research has demonstrated lasting benefits for children and families, including improved health, development and educational attainment.

Through a Test & Learn evaluation across four London boroughs, this project will explore whether the training of staff and embedding of housing advice and support for families at risk of homelessness within Family Hubs can enable:

• earlier identification of housing risk
• more timely and appropriate support, before escalation 
• reduced escalation into statutory homelessness services

The project forms part of London's Ending Homelessness Accelerator Programme.

We expect findings to be available in mid-2027.

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