Record number of homeless families living in hotels and B&Bs as cost to councils set to soar

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Louise Thomas

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A record number of families are having to live in temporary accommodation, new figures show, as councils warn their spending on emergency housing will rise by a third this year.

Some 117,450 households were living in temporary accommodation, such as B&Bs and hotels, in March 2024, which is the highest number since records began in 1998. This was up 12.3 per cent on the same period last year.

Of these, 74,530 were families with children - up 14.7 per cent year-on-year - and the number of children who have been living in temporary accommodation for five years or more has risen by more than 3,000.

John Glenton, executive director at the housing association Riverside, said: “Some children are now spending around a third of their entire childhood living in temporary accommodation rather than a permanent family home.

“This is not acceptable in one of the world’s richest nations.”

Jen Clark, at Amnesty International UK, said: “The homelessness emergency is already upon us. Urgent action is needed to protect human rights as people will be facing a life-or-death situation this winter without safe and secure housing.”

The District Councils’ Network (DCN), which represents 169 councils across England, has said its members expect to spend an extra £400,000 on average this year for temporary accommodation. This accounts for an average increase of 33 per cent for each council.

Figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Thursday showed homelessness increasing under every metric between April 2023 and the end of March 2024. Some 146,430 households were recorded as being threatened with homelessness, up 3.1 per cent year-on-year.

And 178,560 households were assessed as already homeless - up 12.3 per cent.

More people are also sleeping rough for the first time this year. Some 1,013 new people were recorded sleeping on the streets on a single night in June 2024, up 21 per cent since June 2023.

And 794 people who were sleeping rough in June had left an institution, such as prison or hospital - up 47 per cent since the year before.

There has been a staggering 251.2 per cent increase year-on-year in the number of homeless refugees needing housing help from councils after they had been evicted from Home Office hotels.

There has also been a big increase in people becoming homeless due to rent arrears from an increase in rent, with those needing urgent help from councils up 79.2 per cent year-on-year.

The new figures come as 23 leading homelessness charities call on the government to protect their funding in the upcoming Budget. In an open letter to the government, charities including Shelter, Centrepoint and St Mungo’s said the Rough Sleeping Initiative, which many use to fund their services, must be continued.

It is currently scheduled to end in March 2025. The charities warned cash-strapped councils can’t afford to step in if this support is taken away.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already warned of “difficult decisions” ahead after claiming the Tories had left a £22bn black hole in the public finances.

Emma Haddad, chief executive at St Mungo’s, said: “Behind these statistics, there are people who our teams see every day. People who are worried about finding shelter for the night after months - or even years - sleeping rough.

“People who are worried about finding a stable home when time is running out on temporary accommodation arrangements.

“Without vital sources of funding like the Rough Sleeping Initiative, yet more people will experience the trauma of homelessness, and our collective aim of ending homelessness for good will be pushed even further away.”

Councillor Hannah Dalton, housing spokesperson at the DCN, said: “The dramatic growth in temporary accommodation use is threatening the financial future of many district councils, leaving many forced to cut other services to balance the books.”

Rushanara Ali, minister for homelessness, said: “These numbers are more than just statistics. They show the devastating impact homelessness has on people’s lives and it is shocking that so many, including families with children, are spending years without a place to call home.

“We are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness – not just its symptoms – putting in place lasting solutions rather than quick fixes.

“We are reversing the worst housing crisis in living history by building 1.5 million new homes and are changing the law to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions – immediately tackling one of the leading causes of homelessness. In addition, we’ve announced a new dedicated cross-government group, tasked with creating a long-term strategy to end the disgraceful levels of homelessness.”