A new report by homeless charity Crisis has revealed the shocking level of violence and intimidation homeless people face in England and Wales.

Researchers speaking to people sleeping rough found:

More than one in three have been deliberately been hit, kicked, or experienced some other form of violence while homeless.

Over one in three (34%) have had things thrown at them.

Almost one in 10 (9%) have been urinated on while homeless.

More than one in 20 (7%) have been the victim of a sexual assault.

Almost half (48%) have been intimidated or threatened with violence whilst homeless.

Six in 10 (59%) have been verbally abused or harassed.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said that for anyone sleeping on the street, life can be a struggle just to survive. “As our research shows, rough sleepers are far more likely to be victims of crime, including violent assault, abuse and intimidation, compared to the general public,” he commented. “This is a horrifying state of affairs and shows why we need to prevent people ending up in this situation in the first place.”



The charity is calling for action to prevent people having to face street homelessness in the first place. The homelessness reduction bill going through parliament would force local authorities to make sure homeless people can get support at an early stage.

Christmas is a particularly difficult time for homeless people, according to Sparkes. Over the festive period, Crisis is opening many more shelters, run by volunteers and staff, to feed, provide accommodation and support for homeless people, with hairdressers, benefits and legal advisers, and counsellors working with the shelters’ temporary tenants. “We also need to make sure people can get help all year round, ideally before they become homeless in the first place,” said Sparkes.

For its survey, Crisis spoke to 458 people in 21 locations across England and Wales. The findings show:

Almost eight out of 10 (79%) have suffered some sort of crime or antisocial behaviour while homeless, while 77% have suffered it in the past year.

More than half (54%) have had things stolen from them while on the street.

Almost one in four (23%) have had their belongings deliberately vandalised while homeless.

In more than half of cases (55%) of people being hit or kicked, a member of the public unknown to the respondent was responsible.

Over half (53%) said they had not reported the last crime or incident to the police often because they thought the police wouldn’t do anything about it.

One homeless man told the Crisis researchers: “We don’t know if we’re going to get burnt alive or anything; it’s too dangerous out there. You’re always looking over your shoulders. You can’t trust anyone.” But he added that homeless people did have support from one another: “I’m glad we’ve got each other out there, because I don’t know how people cope on their own.”

As well as violence against individuals, theft was a commonly reported problem in the research. Proportionally female rough sleepers (54%) were more likely in the last 12 months to have experienced a theft than their male counterparts (50%). Overall more than half of rough sleepers (51%) reported having had things stolen from them when sleeping on the streets. Women were also more likely to experience verbal abuse than men: 65% of homeless women had been verbally abused in the last 12 months, compared to 53% of male rough sleepers.

This year has seen a series of violent incidents against homeless people. In Manchester’s Chinatown two homeless men died after lighting a fire to keep warm. Two men were jailed after setting a homeless man on fire in Salford. In Worthing, police released CCTV to help them trace men who attacked and set alight a homeless man. And in Kent, a man was jailed for shooting and killing 59-year old Philip Fox, in the tent he slept in.

The 2015-16 crime survey for England and Wales found that 3.6% of the population of England and Wales experienced being intimidated, verbally abused or harassed within the past 12 months. In the survey of people who had slept rough in the past 12 months, 55.5% had experienced being verbally abused or harassed – 15 times higher than the general population.

“This research shows that urgent action is needed by both the police and government. It is not acceptable that homeless people are put in harm’s way on a daily basis. The police must act to reassure homeless people that their safety is paramount and crimes against them will be fully investigated. Attitudes to homelessness and rough sleeping also need to change,” Sparkes says. “Existing support from Local Authorities does not go far enough. That is why the Homelessness Reduction Bill going through parliament is the first opportunity in a generation to make a real change and improve the assistance to homeless people and those at risk of rough sleeping.”

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