{"id":607809,"date":"2025-12-02T17:12:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607809\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T17:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:12:17","slug":"record-high-levels-of-london-households-in-temporary-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607809\/","title":{"rendered":"Record-high levels of London households in temporary accommodation"},"content":{"rendered":"

London boroughs have seen the number of households placed in temporary accommodation reach an all-time high, with rising rates of homelessness placing extraordinary pressures on local councils and families.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were almost 75,000 households in temporary accommodation in London as of June 30 this year, the\u00a0latest<\/a>\u00a0government figures show.<\/p>\n

This is the highest figure ever recorded and represents more than half (56%) of all households in temporary accomodation nationally.<\/p>\n

The issue is particularly acute in the capital, with a figure 370% higher than the second-highest English region \u2013 the South East \u2013 despite London having a lower population.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Local authorities have a duty \u2013 under the Housing Act 1996 \u2013 to provide temporary accommodation to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness if they are deemed vulnerable and in priority need.<\/p>\n

A recent\u00a0London Councils<\/a>\u00a0report suggests that, because of annual increases in homelessness rates, London boroughs face an estimated \u00a3740 million funding shortfall for temporary accommodation and are on the brink of bankruptcy. <\/p>\n

This is due to the scale of homelessness in the capital, which has meant that boroughs do not have access to enough local accommodation to cover the demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Councils are increasingly having to rely on accommodation from private suppliers \u2013 which has led them to spend the equivalent of 11% of every household\u2019s council tax bill on temporary accomodation alone.<\/p>\n

Research by the London School of Economics\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0that eight London boroughs spent a combined \u00a3543 million on temporary accommodation in 2024\/2025.<\/p>\n

It suggests that the financial burden has been worsened since the government\u2019s housing benefit subsidy \u2013 previously supplied to reimburse councils\u2019 temporary accomodation spending \u2013 was frozen in 2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Newham currently has the highest number of households in temporary accomodation at 7,137, with Westminster and Southwark following at 4,449 and 4,117 respectively.<\/p>\n

In a cabinet meeting held last month, Newham Council described the situation as a \u2018housing emergency of unprecedented scale\u2019.<\/p>\n

Director of Housing Needs, Zulfiqar Mulak MBE, said: \u201cThis is not merely a local crisis, but a symptom of a wider national housing market failure: spiralling private rents, a shrinking supply of genuinely affordable homes, landlords exiting the sector, and a continued freeze on Local Housing Allowance (LHA).<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross London these pressures are pushing more families into homelessness and driving demand for TA to unsustainable levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

These concerns were echoed by Southwark Council in a statement made to\u00a0The Londoners.<\/p>\n

Councillor Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Sustainable Development, said: \u201cWith \u00a34m being spent every day on temporary accommodation by London\u00a0Councils, it\u2019s clear that we need urgent action and a shift towards prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding more social rent homes is the only long-term solution to this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

They stated that they are currently building 3,000 new council homes and adopting new strategies on homelessness and rough sleeping in response to the crisis.<\/p>\n

As councils struggle to finance accomodation, vulnerable families have been forced to suffer on waiting lists or compromise on their living conditions to remain sheltered.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of London households in temporary accomodation include dependent children, and a significant proportion of these households are composed of single female parents with dependent children.<\/p>\n

This demographic is the most highly represented, constituting a third of all households.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Within this demographic is Carlie, 35, and her six kids \u2013 many of whom suffer from disabilities \u2013 who have been in temporary accommodation supplied by Ealing Council for many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This month, she was forced to fight against being moved six hours away to County Durham with the help of the London Renters\u2019 Union and was eventually moved to Kingston on 10 November.<\/p>\n

Carlie said: \u201cI feel stressed and tired.\u00a0The rent is \u00a3750 a week and I cannot afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She fears that she will soon be left in arrears and described the negative toll that the move has taken on her mental health, often having panic attacks.<\/p>\n

The new accomodation in Kingston is far from her mother, who she describes as her main support, as well as her children\u2019s schools and hospitals.<\/p>\n

One of her children suffers from liver disease and another with learning difficulties, while her youngest baby suffers from sickle cell.<\/p>\n

The charity Single Homeless Project (SHP) suggest that Carlie\u2019s case is far from unique.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lucy Campbell, who has worked on women\u2019s homelessness for more than 20 years, said: \u201cWe are seeing survivors of domestic abuse move miles away from all their support networks and mothers move miles away from their children\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, because of the housing crisis, which is felt most acutely in London, that is not an unusual situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we see around 35 to 40% of women rough sleeping after having been in some form of homelessness accommodation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re being given to resolve their homelessness is not working \u2013 it\u2019s either not sustainable or it\u2019s not suitable or safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

They suggest that factors like gender-based violence and abuse, the varied and hidden nature of women\u2019s homelessness, and increased care-taking responsibilities have contributed to the over-representation of single mothers in TA.<\/p>\n

Campbell added: \u201cI have never come across a woman experiencing homelessness who hasn\u2019t also been affected by some form of gender-based violence or abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can go into temporary accommodation, but that doesn\u2019t mean that that accommodation is suitable for the needs of them and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: \u201cEveryone deserves a safe place to call home, and we\u2019re taking action to fix the housing crisis in London and across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are providing more than \u00a3400 million in homelessness funding for London this year, launching a cross-government homelessness strategy, and investing a record \u00a339 billion in affordable and social housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ealing Council were contacted for comment. <\/p>\n

Feature Image Credit: Alisdare Hickson, Flickr<\/a> under CC BY-SA 2.0 licence<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London boroughs have seen the number of households placed in temporary accommodation reach an all-time high, with rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-607809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115651093749238641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}