The Datum Report

Standing view · housing · Sheffield

Families with children in temporary accommodation in Sheffield have been falling, while homelessness assessments have been rising.

mixed, held with tentative confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2025-Q1.

Children in temporary accommodation in Sheffield fell to 585 in the first quarter of 2025, households with children in temporary accommodation from 319 in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 248, and households in bed and breakfast accommodation to 278. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 934 initial assessments were carried out, 882 households were owed a prevention or relief duty, 264 a prevention duty and 618 a relief duty. Three measures improved in the most recent quarter.

How this was decided

A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Sheffield. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.

The 4 measures that formed this view

MeasurePeriodDirection
Households in temporary accommodation with children2024-Q4deteriorating
Children in temporary accommodation2025-Q1improving
Households in bed and breakfast2025-Q1improving
Households in temporary accommodation with children2025-Q1improving

Also published on this topic, but not counted

These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.

MeasurePeriodSeries
Initial assessments2024-Q4 rising
Owed a prevention or relief duty2024-Q4 falling
Prevention duty owed2024-Q4
Relief duty owed2024-Q4 falling