Briefing: future trends in temporary accommodation

In the last year we’ve seen record numbers of households and children who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. Over 164,000 children are now growing up in insecure and costly accommodation that’s often cramped and in poor condition.

Temporary accommodation is costing councils eyewatering sums. Last year councils spent £2.3 billion providing accommodation for households experiencing homelessness. That’s £6 million per day. As costs continue to grow, councils spend more of their budgets on temporary accommodation and a growing number are at risk of bankruptcy.

Shelter has carried out new analysis to estimate the scale and cost of the temporary accommodation emergency in 2029 if the government does not commit to significantly more funding for social rent homes in the June Spending Review. We are calling on the government to deliver 90,000 social rent homes over 10 years to end the housing emergency.