A record number of children are stuck in hotels and B&Bs
Tinned up houses on a Wavertree street(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Enough children are now homeless and living in temporary accommodation in England to fill a city the size of Oxford, according to “shameful” new figures. In Liverpool alone, 1,327 homeless children are currently in temporary accommodation.
Government statutory homelessness figures show a record 172,420 children are among the homeless families staying in temporary accommodation provided by councils in England.
That’s larger than the population of several English cities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Lancaster, and Preston.
It is also an 8% rise since last year, and the highest number since records began 21 years ago.
Housing charity Shelter says the new data, covering April to June 2025, exposes the “devastating scale of the housing emergency” across England.
London is by far the worst-affected region, with 97,140 homeless children living in temporary accommodation. That’s more than twice as many as there are across the rest of England (75,280).
The South East is the next most badly-affected area, with 19,280 homeless children, and then the West Midlands (16,580).
The figures also show there are now 11,279 homeless children in temporary accommodation in Birmingham, 10,334 in the London borough of Newham, 6,188 in Lambeth, and 4,678 in Manchester.
You can see how many children are homeless where you live, and the numbers and rates of households living in temporary accommodation.
Overall, there are now 132,410 households classed as homeless and staying in temporary accommodation across England, also up 8% in a year.
Around a third of those households (42,740, 32%) are in temporary accommodation outside of their home area, a 10% increase.
The figures also show that the most common length of time for families with children to remain trapped in temporary accommodation is two to five years (18,940, or 22%).
However, the number of households in bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation is falling, with the latest figures showing 14,250 at the end of June, down by more than a fifth from 18,370 at the same point the previous year.
Shelter is now calling on the government to unfreeze local housing allowance to help families out of temporary accommodation and prevent those pushed to the brink by rocketing private rents from becoming homeless.
In the long term, the charity says homelessness can only be ended by the government ramping up delivery of social rent homes through the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: “It’s utterly shameful that the number of children homeless could now fill a city the size of Oxford.
“Thousands face a long, grim winter stuck in temporary accommodation, including freezing bedsits and cramped B&Bs, because successive governments have passed the buck for a housing emergency of their making.
“Every day we hear from families who are terrified of spending months or even years in appalling conditions, watching their breath hang in the air as damp and mould climb the walls. These conditions are only worsened by bitter isolation, as many are moved miles away from their extended families, schools, and communities.
“The government must unfreeze local housing allowance in the Autumn Budget so that it covers at least the bottom third of local rents, to prevent more families from being caught in the rising tide of homelessness. And in the long-term, the government must set an ambitious national target for the number of social rent homes it wants to see delivered – we need 90,000 a year for 10 years to end homelessness for good.”
Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern said the figures were a “harsh reminder that too many have been let down by the system meant to protect them”.
She added: “We’re seeing signs of progress with the number of households with children in bed and breakfast accommodation continuing to decrease, and the number of households requiring homelessness support falling but I know that’s not enough to fix years of failure.
“That is why we are digging deep to tackle the root causes, investing £1bn in 2025/26, including an additional £84 million to prevent homelessness this winter, building 1.5 million homes and £39bn for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, scrapping Section 21 evictions, and raising standards to ensure safe and secure housing for all.”