From this page http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/homeless-def-numbers.html http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/homeless-def-numbers.html: "Local authorities do not hav

From this page http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/homeless-def-numbers.html http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/homeless-def-numbers.html: "Local authorities do not have to provide housing for all homeless people. Instead, they have a duty to house 'statutory' homeless people and, every year, tens of thousands of people apply to their local authority for homelessness assistance. "To be legally defined as homeless you must either lack a secure place in which you are entitled to live or not reasonably be able to stay in your current accommodation. However, in order for your local authority to have a duty to find you housing, there are further strict criteria that you have to meet. The housing a local authority provides to households who meet these criteria, mainly families with children, may initially be temporary accommodation. "If you don't have dependent children (known as ‘single homelessness') and you are not deemed to be more vulnerable than other homeless people, you probably won't be entitled to housing."