The energy crisis, homelessness, and fuel poverty

This article looks at the hitherto unexplored relationship between fuel poverty and homelessness. The case for understanding the ways in which homelessness may be triggered and also prolonged by spikes in fuel poverty is examined in detail, centring on the growing evidence of wide-ranging associations between homelessness, poverty and destitution, and the serious and sometimes existential risks to underfunded homelessness services and systems. Empirical data is presented focusing on the lived experience of homelessness and the homeless sector in an English City in 2023. The research presents the first detailed analysis of how fuel poverty has increased homelessness on the ground, showing that rising fuel poverty has added to the economic drivers of causation while also delaying and restricting exits from homelessness. The findings also show the effects on the homelessness services working in an English City, all of which faced deep challenges in meeting escalating energy costs within operational budgets that were not only already stretched, but which had been falling for years. The article makes a number of policy recommendations, arguing for greater support with energy bills for those in most need, improved support for energy costs (including changes to tariffs) for third sector organisations such as those in the homeless sector, and the need for wider structural reform. The article concludes that wider analysis of the associations between fuel poverty, housing exclusion and homelessness is required to better understand and respond to the significant policy challenges emerging in this area.