The Extent of Furniture Poverty 2026: A Public Health Crisis

In March, End Furniture Poverty launched ‘The Extent of Furniture Poverty: A Public Health Crisis’ which, for the first time since 2022, analysed the extent of furniture poverty across the UK and highlighted which groups are most at risk.

In addition, the report includes a foreword by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who emphasises the need of furniture and appliances to set up vulnerable people to have a safe and secure life.

This report has been shared with policymakers and individuals within the social housing sector to ensure that all are aware of furniture poverty and its impact.

Key findings of the report include:

• Despite cost-of-living support in recent years, there are still 6 million people living in furniture poverty, 9% of the population.
• In total, there are 8.1 million essential items missing from British Homes.
• Furniture poverty is a public health crisis. Living without the essential items of furniture causes vast harm to people’s physical and mental health.
• Of those in furniture poverty, 27% report severe impacts on their physical health and 32% report severe impacts on their mental health.
  Social renters are four times more likely to be in furniture poverty than homeowners.
• Almost a quarter of households could not afford to replace broken furniture, and nearly one in five could not afford to replace broken electrical goods.

In the upcoming quarter, End Furniture Poverty will be working on a new report that explores the impact of furniture poverty on survivors of domestic abuse. This will be launched through an event in Parliament, and we are pleased to announce that this will be sponsored by Angela Rayner MP with her also acting as a keynote speaker. More details will be shared over the coming months.