> Which leaves just housing - only 0.1% of the people literally do not have a place to stay, and local authorities are obliged to provide accommodation for those people if they apply. There are also large private charities to address this issue.
Local authorities absolutely do not have to provide accommodation for those who apply. Accommodation is provided to people in priority groups.
Even people who have no home and who are living on the streets (which as you say is rare in the context of homelessness) could find themselves excluded by rules for local authority accommodation.
And for the people who do meet the rules there are huge waiting lists. Tower Hamlets has a population of about 250,000 people, with about 24,000 people on the list.
So you are saying there are 24,000 people sleeping rough in Tower Hamlets each night? I doubt it. That's 10x the official statistic for the entire country (England).
No, i am jot saying there are 24,000 rough sleepers. I am saying that even though the rules to get on a local authority housing list are tight there are still 24,000 people on the list for tower hamlets.
Some of these people are homeless but not rough sleepers.
Note that it is possible to be sleeping rough and not meet the criteria for acceptance to the LA housing waiting list.
Let's cut to the chase. Being 'homeless' because you have to stay with friends or relatives is not the same thing as living in a slum or a cardboard box. The only relevant point here is your last one, which I'm sure is technically true (although I'm not sure how temporary accommodation figures into it) but I doubt it accounts for a very large number of people.
Local authorities absolutely do not have to provide accommodation for those who apply. Accommodation is provided to people in priority groups.
Even people who have no home and who are living on the streets (which as you say is rare in the context of homelessness) could find themselves excluded by rules for local authority accommodation.
And for the people who do meet the rules there are huge waiting lists. Tower Hamlets has a population of about 250,000 people, with about 24,000 people on the list.