We welcome Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s commitment to ending homelessness and recognise the importance of ensuring everyone has access to safe, stable housing.
Homelessness is often discussed as a housing issue, but for many people it is also closely linked to vulnerability, exploitation, and modern slavery. If we are serious about ending homelessness, we must also understand and address the risks that can accompany it.
Ongoing economic pressures and the rising cost of living are leaving many people struggling to make ends meet. Financial hardship, insecure work, debt, and housing instability can all increase vulnerability, creating circumstances that exploiters can take advantage of. People experiencing homelessness, or those at risk of losing their homes, are often targeted by individuals who offer what appears to be support, accommodation, or employment.
False promises of housing, work, financial support, or a sense of security can be used to manipulate people into situations of labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, or other forms of modern slavery. This can affect anyone, including UK nationals, who, in the latest Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline Annual Assessment, continue to be identified as potential victims of modern slavery.
At the same time, modern slavery can also be a cause of homelessness. Survivors frequently leave exploitative situations with nowhere safe to go, creating an urgent need for accommodation, support, and specialist services. Without this support, individuals may face ongoing vulnerability and an increased risk of re exploitation.
Data from the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline highlights the scale of this connection. Alongside identifying homelessness as a key vulnerability factor for people at risk of exploitation, Helpline data also shows that exploitation itself can contribute to housing insecurity. Individuals may lose accommodation while being controlled by exploiters, be forced to leave unsafe living situations, or struggle to access housing after escaping exploitation. In this way, modern slavery is not only linked to homelessness but can actively drive it.
During 2025, the Helpline indicated 575 potential victims across 461 cases of exploitation who were affected by homelessness. These figures demonstrate that homelessness and modern slavery are not separate challenges. They are often interconnected with each increasing the risk of the other.
Addressing these issues requires coordinated responses from housing providers, local authorities, frontline services, policymakers, and anti-slavery organisations. By recognising the two-way relationship between homelessness and exploitation, services can be better equipped to identify risk, provide early intervention, and support people before they fall into crisis.
At Unseen, we see first-hand how housing insecurity can increase vulnerability to exploitation and how survivors of modern slavery can face homelessness when escaping abuse. That is why collaboration across sectors is essential.
As policymakers and local leaders develop strategies to reduce and prevent homelessness, we encourage them to consider the role that exploitation and modern slavery can play. By addressing both issues together, we can help create safer communities and ensure fewer people fall through the gaps where exploitation thrives.
Only by tackling the root causes of vulnerability can we build lasting solutions for those most at risk.
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