Briefing: Investment in social housing: the sustainable solution to child poverty

Shelter's submission to the government's Child Poverty Taskforce.

The housing emergency facing the country is one of the key drivers of child poverty: more than a million children in the UK are growing up in poverty due to the cost of their family’s rent

At the sharpest end are the record number of children who are homeless with their families and growing up in temporary accommodation (TA). Shelter research has found that a record 161,000 children are homeless and living in either in TA provided under homelessness legislation or by social services.

If the government is serious about eradicating child poverty, then it must urgently address the record number of children homeless in expensive and damaging temporary accommodation

The child poverty strategy must include a clear commitment to investment in social rent homes so that families can have a truly affordable, permanent place to live. We need to build at least 90,000 social homes a year for 10 years to end all forms of homelessness for good.

The strategy must also address the urgent need for adequate housing benefit to tackle housing costs-induced poverty for children in renting families. This means permanently linking the local housing allowance to the real cost of private rents and scrapping the household benefit cap, which is pushing families into deep poverty.