New homelessness report shows ‘appalling’ measures forced on families

Shelter’s latest homelessness report displays almost half of families that have been put into temporary accommodation since prices began to soar, have been forced to put their children in new schools.

Leading housing charity, Shelter, blamed what it described as ‘total inaction’ from the government for the number of young people facing ‘traumatic’ living conditions and disruptions to their education.

New research from the charity highlights the 47% of families who have had to ‘pack up their lives’ due to the soaring costs of living, have had to commit to hourly long commutes to get their children to school or relocate them altogether.

The report was created to gauge the impact on homeless families living for long periods in poor quality temporary flats, hostels, bedsits and hotel rooms, often far from family support networks. Figures display over a third of children have missed more than a month of school after being placed in temporary accommodation.

Researchers discovered 22% of homeless children have had to move schools multiple times as a result, whilst 52% have missed days because of disruption.

Temporary accommodation was originally meant to provide an emergency stopgap to out up homeless families for a short period while their council found a suitable permanent home for them locally. However, the use of the accommodation has doubled over the past decade.

Latest figures show almost 100,000 households were in temporary accommodation in England, including 125,000 children, a 67% rise over the past 10 years. The cost has also spiralled, with spending on temporary accommodation hitting £1.6bn last year – a rise of 61% in five years.

As a result of this harrowing discovery, ministers are being urged to end the freeze on housing benefits to help tackle the problem – since April 2020 the government has frozen the Local Housing Allowance to the rate it was set for the year 2020/21. It has not been increased to keep in line with inflation rates.

In response to the report, Cllr Daaren Rodwell, London Councils’ Executive Member for Regeneration, housing & Planning, said: ‘These appalling figures are the latest evidence of the worsening homelessness crisis, which is hitting London particularly hard.

‘Boroughs do everything they can to help homeless families, but the fundamental problem is the chronic shortage of affordable housing.

‘The government must use next week’s budget to boost support for struggling households and to help councils deliver the affordable homes out communities are crying out for.’

At the beginning of this month, the Department of levelling Up, Communities and Housing, published findings which revealed the number of people who have been sleeping rough on a single night in autumn last year had increased by 26% more than in 2021.

Photo by Mihály Köles