Official government figures released to showed 172,420 kids were in families forced to live in temporary homes by the end of June, which includes B&Bs and hostels
The number of homeless children living in temporary accommodation in England has risen to the highest levels since records began two decades ago.
Official figures released to showed 172,420 kids were in families forced to live in temporary homes by the end of June, which includes B&Bs and hostels. It is an increase of 13,110 on the same data from last year.
It is also the first time the figure has been above 170,000 since records began back in 2004 and has been described as a “national disgrace” by campaigners.
The latest data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government also showed 132,410 families in total living in temporary accommodation.
READ MORE: Major funding to tackle homelessness as record numbers stuck in temporary accommodation
Among those 3,340 households with children were living in B&Bs and 3,590 in hostels. A further 33,530 families with kids are living in nightly paid and privately managed accommodation.
Housing charity Shelter has blamed the staggering figures on a severe shortage of social homes for rent and low benefit levels trapping families in homelessness.
The charity is calling on the government to unfreeze local housing allowance in the Autumn Budget and to set “an ambitious national target” for the number of social rent homes it wants to see delivered. It said 90,000 a year for 10 years are needed to end homelessness for good.
Mairi MacRae, Director of Campaigns and Policy at Shelter, said: “It’s utterly shameful that the number of children homeless could now fill a city the size of Oxford. Thousands face a long grim winter stuck in temporary accommodation, including freezing bedsits and cramped B&Bs, because successive governments have passed the buck for a housing emergency of their making.
“Every day we hear from families who are terrified of spending months or even years in appalling conditions, watching their breath hang in the air as damp and mould climbs the walls. These conditions are only worsened by bitter isolation, as many are moved miles away from their extended families, schools, and communities.”
Jess McQuail, Director of Just Fair campaign group, said: “These figures are a national disgrace. Behind every statistic is a child spending nights in a B&B, travelling miles to school, or growing up without the stability of a home. This is not inevitable, it is a political choice.”
John Glenton, Chief Care and Support Officer at Riverside, social housing association, said: “These new figures show the humanitarian crisis we are facing – there are now enough homeless children living in temporary accommodation (TA) in England to fill both Wembley Stadium and Twickenham.
“Funding is in a perilous state for supported housing and homeless prevention services. Last year, one in three (32%) supported housing providers said they had to close schemes because of funding pressures, and we are seeing cash-strapped councils decommission services and close bedspaces due to a lack of funding.”
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