There were 145,800 children in temporary accommodation as of the end of December last year.
The number of children living in temporary accommodation has reached another record high, leading a charity to warn that a generation are having their lives “blighted by homelessness”.
There were 145,800 children in temporary accommodation as of the end of December last year, up by a fifth on 20 years ago when records for this measure began.
The figure is up 15% from 126,340 on the same period in 2022, the figures published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities showed.
On December 31 last year, there were a total of 112,660 households in temporary accommodation in England, of which 71,280 were households with children.
The number of overall households in temporary accommodation rose by 12% from 100,510 at the same time in 2022, while the number of households with children increased by 15% from 61,980.
The total number of children living in temporary accommodation was 145,800 as of December 31, a rise of 15% from 126,340 on the same period in 2022.
A total of 317,430 households were assessed as being owed a prevention or relief duty in 2023, a rise of almost 9% on the previous year.
A prevention duty places a duty on housing authorities to work with people who are threatened with homelessness within 56 days to help prevent them from becoming homelessness, while a relief duty requires housing authorities to help people who are homeless to secure accommodation.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “The Government cannot stand idly by while a generation of children have their lives blighted by homelessness.”
She said “decades of failure to build enough genuinely affordable social homes has left families struggling to cobble together extortionate sums every month to keep a roof over their heads”.
Political parties must commit to “ending the housing emergency”, she added, urging them all to pledge to build 90,000 social homes a year for 10 years, as well as to “overhaul of the Renters (Reform) Bill so that it delivers genuine safety and security for private renters”.
