The government must take action to tackle the crisis in temporary accommodation
4 min read
There is a worrying lack of urgency and detail in the government's plan for tackling the crisis in temporary accommodation.
On the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee, our first report examined the issue of temporary accommodation. What we found was a broken system that is leaving thousands of families across the country in crisis. Sadly, the government’s response to our report suggests that it is dragging its feet on what is needed to fix temporary accommodation.
Record numbers of households (126,000) are currently homeless, with many trapped for years in ‘temporary’ accommodation while their health, work and education suffer. For decades, we have failed to build enough social homes, and serious long-term investment in social housing will be crucial to get out of this crisis. Yet, families in temporary accommodation can’t wait years for these homes to be built, and the HCLG Committee proposed a series of immediate, practical solutions which the government could adopt now to help those stuck without a home of their own.
When a family with children becomes homeless, their local authority has a duty to provide housing for them until they can settle in a more permanent home. This temporary housing could be a privately rented property, short-term social housing, a council-owned property or nightly paid accommodation, such as a bed and breakfast or a hotel. Our report, England’s Homeless Children: The crisis in temporary accommodation, found that far too often, temporary accommodation is completely inappropriate for families, and in some cases is unfit for habitation. We heard about cases of families living in accommodation that is excessively cold, that has serious damp and mould, and that has mouse infestations. Temporary accommodation is also often overcrowded; sometimes older children share beds with their parents or siblings, and babies cannot crawl or learn to walk due to a lack of floor space.
Devastatingly, 74 children had their deaths linked to temporary accommodation in the last five years. It’s clear we need to act urgently to bring an end to this crisis before any more young lives are ruined or lost.
Surprisingly, many councils do not carry out regular inspections of the conditions of temporary accommodation used to house families. This is unacceptable. In our report, we called for all local authorities in England to undertake mandatory inspections of housing before it is first used as temporary accommodation, and whenever new residents move in. Disappointingly, the government does not directly address the issue of mandatory inspections, which does little to give confidence that the department is giving serious consideration to the range of solutions needed.
We cannot keep talking about a housing crisis and then fail to put actions in place to solve it. We will continue to press the government for clarity on how many social homes they expect the Spending Review capital investment to deliver, including homes for social rent that will get families out of temporary accommodation. The committee has called on the government to set a target for social rent homes in its long-term housing strategy later this year, and we look forward to questioning the secretary of state on these issues at our public evidence session on Tuesday, 8 July.
In our report, we called on the government to publish its strategy on ending homelessness by the end of next month. Given the urgency of the issue, and the need to involve homelessness organisations and local authorities, it’s disappointing that the government is only willing to commit to publication ‘later this year’.
The government also rejected the committee’s call to provide an update on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping. This lack of transparency does little to inspire confidence that the group is making the progress needed to ensure the homelessness strategy is truly effective.
While there appears to be broad acceptance of the points raised by our report, the government’s response demonstrates a worrying lack of urgency and substantive detail in their approach. As a committee, we shall continue to shine a light in this area and press ministers to go further in their efforts to tackle the crisis in temporary accommodation.
Florence Eshalomi is the Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green and Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
