Record high number of households and children in temporary accommodation

The numbers of households and children in temporary accommodation in England are at record highs, Carl Dinnen reports

The risk of childhood homelessness in England has rocketed over the past year, government statistics have shown, and more households are in temporary accommodation than anytime since records began.

Households with children initially assessed as homeless increased by 12.1% over the past year for the period between January and March.

There were 41,950 households initially assessed as homeless from January to March 2023, up 10.7% from the same quarter last year, of these 11,250 were households with children.

And 104,510 households were in temporary accommodation by the end of March – a 25-year high.

The total number of children in this situation is also at the highest level since records for that measure began in 2004 – with 131,370 children living in temporary accommodation as of the end of March this year.

The latest figures, released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, have been described as “very worrying” by Riverside, an organisation which describes itself as the largest provider of accommodation for people affected by homelessness.

Of the 104,510 households in temporary accommodation by the end of March – a high since records began in 1998 – 64,940 were households with children.

Both of these figures are up by about 10% on the same period last year.

The worrying homelessness trend coincides with the cost of living crisis, which was made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Inflation has soared in the UK since, and despite a recent drop, prices are still 7.9% higher than they were last year.

Food prices have been rising sharply over the past year and were 17.3% higher in June 2023 compared with a year before, according to the ONS.

Household bills are also significantly higher since the Russian invasion.

Between June 2022 to June 2023, domestic gas prices increased by 36% and domestic electricity prices by 17%.

John Glenton, executive director of Riverside Care and Support, said efforts in previous years to tackle homelessness did work and should be renewed.

He said: “It is very worrying to see the number of households in temporary accommodation have now hit a new record high. We now have the highest number of homeless households in temporary accommodation since records began 25 years ago.”

He said reforms had “included more investment in homeless hostels, supported housing and move-on accommodation, with a focus on rehabilitation and resettlement of people affected by homelessness into long-term housing” as well as specialist mental health teams for people affected by homelessness, with a focus on prevention to help people to maintain tenancies.

He added: “While some of these services are being offered by some providers now, the implementation of it is patchy and inconsistent, and limited by short-term commissioning.”

Part of the problem is a lack of housing in the UK.

Levelling Up Michael Gove has insisted to ITV News the government will achieve its target of building a million new homes during this Parliament, but accepted there is more to do.

"It is vitally important that we build more homes," he said, "and we are making sure that in the future we have a long term plan for housing".

Michael Gove accepts more needs to be done on housing

He said he is "absolutely confident" of meeting the million new homes target, but added: "Of course we must go further, we've done a lot but there is still a lot more to do."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, when asked whether another manifesto pledge, to build 300,000 new homes a year, still stands, said: “We are making good progress towards that and actually if you look at what has happened over the past few years, we have seen some of the biggest years for new housing supply that we’ve seen in decades and in the last year that we have figures for, the highest number of first-time buyers in over 20 years."

The prime minister told reporters on Monday; “We are making progress, I’m proud of that progress and we’re not stopping there. But we’ve got to do it in the right way, I don’t want to concrete over the countryside, that’s something that is very special about Britain.

“I also don’t want to ride roughshod over the views of communities and their representatives. We want to build in the right places – that’s more brownfield, expanding upwards and outwards, densifying our inner cities.

“These are practical ways to continue delivering homes. Our record on this is fantastic, 2.2 million homes since 2010, but we’re not stopping there.”

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...