Why So Many People Are Leaving Prison With Nowhere to Live
Nearly one in six people leaving prison in England and Wales in 2025-26 had nowhere to live when they were released, the worst rate in five years, according to the social justice charity Nacro (The Guardian). Between April 2025 and March 2026, 15,155 people freed from prison had no home to go to. That works out to about 300 people every week — an 18% rise from the year before.
The numbers came out the same day Prime Minister Andy Burnham promised to end rough sleeping in England, putting an extra £340 million toward the problem over three years in his first speech as prime minister. A worsening crisis landing alongside a new funding pledge raises a key question: can money for housing turn around a trend that has gotten worse every year since 2021-22?
Enver Solomon, who leads Nacro, said the share of prison leavers released without a home went from 10.6% in 2021-22 to 15.9% in 2025-26. The climb has been steady year after year: 11.6%, then 13.2%, then 14.9%, then 15.9%. Nacro's earlier reporting on the same data showed a 31% increase in homeless releases for 2023-24 and a 39.4% rise based on 2025 Ministry of Justice statistics (Nacro), matching the upward direction now confirmed in the latest figures.
Some parts of the country are hit much harder than others. South-central England (Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire) had the highest rate, with 20.7% of prison leavers released into homelessness. The East Midlands followed at 19.1%, and the east of England at 18.4%. Wales had the lowest rate at 11.1%. The BBC reported that in one region, homeless releases jumped from 940 between April 2023 and April 2024 to 1,585 in the same period the following year (BBC).
More than 1,300 women were released homeless or to rough sleeping in 2025-26, a 27% increase on the previous year. Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said many prisons reported that up to 30% of prisoners had no settled address. Taylor pointed to two main causes. First, prisoners are often released straight from court, meaning they skip the support services that might help them find housing. Second, many serve short sentences and then get recalled — sent back to prison, often for breaking a release rule — sometimes for as little as 14 days. These short stints in and out of prison make it nearly impossible to keep a stable home.
By law, prisons and the probation service in England and Wales are required to refer anyone at risk of homelessness to the local council. Being at risk of homelessness includes sleeping on the streets, squatting, or relying on night shelters. The fact that thousands still leave without a home suggests the problem is not a missing law but a failure to enforce it and a lack of capacity to follow through.
The reason this matters for crime is striking. According to Solomon, three in four people released to rough sleeping commit another crime within a year. Among those released into housing, it's just over a third. A separate study by the What Works Centre found that two-thirds of people who became homeless after leaving prison were reported to have reoffended within a year (What Works Centre). The risk of death is also severe. A Nacro report published in July 2026, "Reducing deaths among prison leavers," found that more than one person dies every day in the year after leaving prison (Nacro). A third of those who die within two weeks of release were homeless.
The broader context here is a system that has the right rules on paper, clear evidence that homelessness after prison fuels reoffending and death, and a trend that has gone in the wrong direction for five straight years. The £340 million pledge over three years is the first major political response to that trajectory. Whether the money reaches the specific problems Taylor identified — people released from court with no help, and the constant in-and-out of short recalls — will determine whether the five-year climb finally slows down or just pauses before rising again.
