UK

Alarming increase in housing insecurity for older people: new report

AUGUST 27, 2025

A new report by Crisis shines a light on a growing and devastating issue: older people in Britain are being swept into the housing and homelessness crisis.

What should be a time of security and dignity is instead becoming a daily battle to keep a roof overhead, pay rent, heat homes, and afford food. For too many, the dream of a peaceful retirement has been replaced by the fear of homelessness.

A Growing Crisis

Crisis’ research reveals that older people are now facing housing insecurity at alarming rates. Households unable to save, people experiencing poor health and Black, Asian, and other minoritised ethnic communities are especially vulnerable.

Homelessness among older people has risen sharply over the past five years. In the last two years, England saw a 35% increase in the number of households aged 55 and over forced into temporary accommodation. With an ageing population, the situation is only set to worsen unless urgent action is taken.

The Human Cost

As housing and living costs spiral, many older people are being pushed into desperate measures to cope: turning off heating and hot water, cutting back on food and electricity, relying on food banks and avoiding social outings to save money, leading to isolation and loneliness.

For some, debt becomes the only way to survive, with credit cards and loans filling the gaps. Others delay retirement because they simply can’t afford to stop working. The numbers of over-65s who are working has doubled in the last twenty years.

Caring for loved ones also becomes harder, while barriers like digital exclusion and age discrimination make finding work more difficult.

Over two-fifths of respondents surveyed said they suffered from increased stress about rising housing costs. Perhaps most worryingly, nearly half of older people on low incomes told Crisis they would have nowhere to go if they lost their home. In some heart-breaking cases, people have resorted to sleeping in sheds or living in unsafe conditions, with devastating effects on both physical and mental health.

Why This Is Happening

This crisis is the result of years of chronic undersupply of social housing, rising rents and an inadequate welfare system. What was once a safety net for older generations has eroded, leaving many exposed and vulnerable.

Without intervention, homelessness could become a grim reality for an increasing number of older people across Britain.

What Needs to Change

Crisis is calling for urgent action to prevent this crisis from becoming entrenched:

• Significant investment in social housing to ensure safe, genuinely affordable homes
• Affordable private renting, with stronger protections for tenants
• Housing benefit that truly covers the lowest third of rents across Great Britain

Anything less will mean more older people suffering needlessly in poverty, instability, and homelessness.

“‘I didn’t expect to be living the way I am’: Older people’s experiences of housing precarity and homelessness” can be accessed here.