More than 150,000 children in England are living in temporary accommodation, prompting calls for the government to address what it calls a “national scandal”.
Living in temporary accommodation is considered a form of homelessness and can involve people staying in hostel or bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation.
At the end of March there were 151,630 children living in temporary accommodation, an increase of 15% compared with the same time last year and the highest figure since this measure began in 2004.
There were 117,450 households living in such conditions in England at the end of March, 74,530 of which included children, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
According to law, B&Bs are meant to be used only for families in an emergency, and for no longer than six weeks, but the figures showed 3,250 households with young people in England had been in such accommodation for longer.
The figure for total households in temporary accommodation has increased each quarter for the past two years, and is up by 24% on the figure of 95,000 in early 2022.
Shelter, the housing charity, said the government must “tackle the housing emergency head-on”. Polly Neate, its chief executive, said: “Without a clear plan to invest in genuinely affordable social homes, thousands more children will be forced to grow up in damaging temporary accommodation, spending months if not years living out of suitcases, crammed into grim bedsits and B&Bs, and unable to put down any roots.”
Lord Bird, the founder of the Big Issue magazine and a crossbench peer who has spoken out about his experience of growing up in poverty, said the latest figures were “appalling”. “Another winter looms and there’s little being done to turn this terrible tide,” he said.
The number of households in England living in B&Bs reached 17,750, and as of the end of March this meant the number of homeless people living in such accommodation was 30% higher than the same time last year, while the 5,550 households with children living in B&Bs was up by almost half, at 44.2%.
The new Labour government said the situation was “a scandal”.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary said: “We are facing the most acute housing crisis in living memory and homelessness remains at record levels. This is nothing short of a national scandal.
“Urgent action must be taken to fix this. That’s why we are working across government and with local leaders to develop a long-term strategy to end homelessness for good.
“Work is already under way to stop people from becoming homeless in the first place. This includes delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable home-building in a generation, abolishing section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and a multimillion-pound package to provide homes for families most at risk of homelessness.”
Meanwhile, separate figures from the Ministry of Justice showed bailiff repossessions as a result of a no-fault eviction had reached the highest level for six years.
Landlords can apply for an accelerated possession order if their tenants have not left by the date specified in a section 21 notice. There were 2,916 such repossessions between April and June this year, an increase of 31% on the same period last year and the highest quarterly figure since the beginning of 2018.
Housing ministry figures showed that 6,630 households in England were assessed by councils as being threatened with homelessness between January and March 2024 as a result of section 21 notices to end their tenancies – up 1.2% from the same quarter last year.
Tom Darling, director of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “While in opposition, this government pledged to end no-fault evictions immediately, and the king’s speech last month rightly promised a ‘renters’ rights bill’.
“However, renters cannot afford to wait much longer – we must see legislation brought forward soon to get a grip on the situation and address the renting crisis.”
