Housing and homelessness figures

There is a critical shortage of housing in Chelmsford, particularly for affordable homes to rent. We can't meet the demand for homes through our housing register due to a lack of available properties. The situation in Chelmsford reflects our national housing crisis. The crisis is worse in London and South East, although it's an increasing problem throughout the country.

To make people aware of the challenges we face in accommodating homeless households in the district, we produce a monthly housing and homelessness report.

This report include facts and figures relating to:

• housing register applicants 
• local housing allowance and market rent 
• temporary accommodation 
• homelessness
• rough sleeping 

You can download the report for May or view it online.

Since becoming a city in 2012, Chelmsford has seen significant economic growth making it a highly desirable place to live. This has contributed to very high demand for properties, driving up the cost to buy and rent homes. We do not own any council houses or any social housing. 16 different housing associations in Chelmsford are responsible for managing social housing.

Like other local authorities, we are tackling the toughest budget position we have ever faced, caused by multiple financial pressures. Chelmsford is in a better position than most, but even cautious councils are feeling the pinch. One of our challenges is the recent rise in homeless households in the district.

Where we have been unable to prevent a threat of homelessness, we may have a statutory duty to provide interim or temporary accommodation. Our statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation depends on your circumstances but will not apply to everyone.

A big increase in the cost of these services has added £3.7 million of costs to the budget for 2024 to 2025. We have been using emergency reserves to fund part of this extra cost.