How many households came to the council each quarter saying they were homeless or about to be, and had their situation formally assessed. This is the front door of the homelessness system: it measures demand, not how well the council performs. A high number means lots of people in the area are at risk of losing their home; a low number means fewer are, or fewer are coming forward.
| name | initial_assessments |
|---|---|
| dataset | 06-hclic-temporary-accommodation |
| kind | extracted |
| type | count |
| unit | households per quarter |
| grain | local authority (England) |
| role | feature |
| source | data/Statutory_Homelessness_Detailed_Local_Authority_Data_202603.ods, sheet A1, col 2 'Initial assessments Total[note 2]' |
| period | Quarter (Jan–Mar 2026 flow); quarterly series from 2018 Q2 |
| missingness | Small counts rounded and some values suppressed; some LAs miss or partially complete H-CLIC returns and are imputed/flagged by MHCLG (see Notes sheet); previous-quarter figures routinely revised. |
| score_note | Clean inflow count but demand context, not a price or placement choice. |
| peer_group | council class (district / county / unitary / metropolitan / London) — not yet scored on the leaderboard |
Homelessness applications given an initial assessment during the quarter — the inflow driving the TA caseload. A flow, not a snapshot, so it is not directly comparable to the TA1 stock figures without annualising. Reflects demand pressure more than council performance.