Homelessness rates hit high, as cost-of-living crisis deepens in UK

The homelessness rate across England is at its highest since 2018 due to government policies, which have forced a record number of families to live in temporary accommodation, according to official figures.

According to official government data for January to March, published on Tuesday, around 79,840 households were owed help from local authorities to address homelessness or the risk of homelessness, as experts blame a “shameful” lack of social housing.

Meanwhile, around 105,000 households were in temporary accommodation, up 10 percent from a year earlier and the highest since records for the figure began in 1998. This number included more than 131,000 children, the highest level since records for that measure began in 2004.

While the number has fluctuated in recent years, charities and statistical institutes have described the new figures as extremely “worrying”.

For the same period in 2022, the number of children living in temporary accommodation was 119,780. However, it was a decrease from 2021, when there were 121,300 children in the same period.

The numbers have sparked calls for the government to reform renting laws faster and build more affordable housing, with campaigners warning that “the time for empty words on building social homes” had “long past”.

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said families were trapped in temporary accommodation due to “the crippling cost [of] years of no investment in housing benefit and a shameful lack of social house building”.

Homelessness charity Shelter also called on the government to take decisive action to prevent the situation from becoming worst.