Rural England
Homelessness
Key points
- The proportion of households accepted as homeless by their local authority is much lower in rural districts than in urban districts.
- See the UK indicator on homelessness.
Graph 1: Compared to urban
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Rural/urban ratios (urban = 10)
On most poverty and social exclusion indicators, rural areas have 'better scores' than urban areas. The purpose of the table below is to differentiate between those subjects where rural areas are 'a bit better' and those where rural areas are 'a lot better'. It does so by presenting the rural statistics for the indicator as a proportion of the urban statistics. So, for example, a rural 'score' of 6 in the table below means that the rural statistic is around 60% of its urban equivalent.
| 'Very rural' districts | 5 |
|---|---|
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 5 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 6 |
Definitions and data sources
The indicator
For each type of local authority district, the graph shows the number of households newly recognised as homeless by their local authority in 2006 as a proportion of all households. It includes both those 'in priority need' and those 'not in priority need'. It also includes those deemed to be intentionally homeless as well as those who were unintentionally homeless.
Level of the data
Lower tier local authorities (districts), as classified by the DEFRA 2005 classification system. Both the DEFRA classification rules and their results by local authority can be found on the page on rural/urban classification systems.
Source
DCLG Statutory Homelessness Statistical Releases.
External links
See the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on Social housing in rural areas.
The numbers
| Type of district | Proportion of all households | Absolute numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 'Very rural' districts | 0.28% | 7,000 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 0.30% | 7,400 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 0.36% | 9,800 |
| Urban districts | 0.56% | 75,400 |