Almost 20,000 babies in England live in temporary housing

Nearly 20,000 babies aged under one are living in temporary accommodation in England, new government figures have shown in what Labour called “a damning indictment” of ministerial failures over housing.

The statistics, a one-off additional release to existing homelessness figures, showed that on 30 June in 2023, when the snapshot was taken, 262,430 children aged under 10 were in temporary accommodation.

This total included 846 pregnant women, nearly 9,000 infants aged between one and two, and about 8,200 aged two to three.

There were over 40,000 children of primary school age in temporary accommodation on that date, fractionally under 1% of all state primary pupils across England.

Figures released late in 2023 showed that 105,750 households were in temporary accommodation, defined as housing secured by a council under statutory homelessness duties, which can include short-term rental homes as well as hotels and B&Bs.

This was a 10.5% rise from the same date a year before, but for households with children the increase was steeper at 13.8%.

On Monday, it emerged that an investigation into child deaths found that living in temporary accommodation was a factor in the unexpected deaths of 55 children between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2023, with 42 under a year old.

Living in temporary accommodation can be particularly disruptive for school-age children. Research in 2023 by Shelter, the housing charity, said nearly half of families placed in temporary housing have to either put their children into new schools or spend several hours a day taking them to and from their current school.

This affects their academic performance and emotional wellbeing, the study showed. Of children placed in temporary accommodation, over a third had missed more than a month of school.

This is a particularly acute problem in London, given the city’s very high housing costs. Analysis of government data by the Observer in December showed that in some London boroughs more than a tenth of children or teenagers are in temporary accommodation.

Overall, 4.4% of under-18s from London were housed in this way, rising to nearly 12% in Westminster and just over 10% for Newham and Kensington and Chelsea.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and shadow housing secretary, said the latest statistics on under-10s were “a damning indictment of fourteen years of Tory failure on housing, with children born trapped in temporary accommodation left paying the price”.

She said: “This comes off the back of harrowing news that temporary accommodation has contributed to the deaths of dozens of babies.

“This government has no plan to fix the crisis they are presiding over, and worse still they are dragging their feet over the ban on no fault evictions that is helping fuel it.

“Labour will take action to end the Tories’ housing emergency, banning no fault evictions once and for all, and tackling the root cause by delivering the biggest boost to affordable, social and council housing for a generation.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “We want everyone to have a safe place to call home, which is why we’re giving councils £1.2bn so that they can give financial support to those who need it, helping them to find a new home and move out of temporary accommodation.

“Temporary accommodation is a vital safety net to make sure families are not left without a roof over their heads, but councils must make sure it is suitable for families, who have a right to appeal if it is not.”