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 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025-Q1.

Households with children in temporary accommodation in Sheffield have been falling, while homelessness assessments have been rising. Households in temporary accommodation with children stood at 319 in the fourth quarter of 2024, recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for its quarter, then 248 in the first quarter of 2025 and favourable, with children in temporary accommodation at 585 and households in bed and breakfast at 278 in that quarter, both also favourable. Initial assessments were 934 in the fourth quarter of 2024, with 882 owed a prevention or relief duty, 264 prevention and 618 relief.

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