Briefing: Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation

Shelter is the UK’s largest housing and homelessness charity. Throughout the pandemic, we have continued to provide information, support and advice to thousands of people experiencing bad housing or facing homelessness.

The numbers living in temporary accommodation have been steadily rising over recent years and last year, councils in England spent over £1 billion on temporary accommodation. More than 67,000 families spent lockdown trapped in temporary accommodation, which is often cramped, overcrowded and poor-quality.

To lift thousands of families out of homelessness and temporary accommodation, Shelter is calling on the government to:

• Strengthen our welfare safety net, by removing the benefit cap, reversing the freeze to Local Housing Allowance (LHA), and ensuring the rates align with at least the 30th percentile of market rents going forward.

• Bring forward urgent legislation to give private renters more security and ending Section 21 “no fault” evictions, which remains one of the leading causes of homelessness.

• Invest in a new generation of social housing, to provide families with stable, permanent and affordable homes.