More than 200,000 children could be stuck in temporary accommodation by the end of this Parliament if more isn’t done to build social housing, homelessness charity warns.
Research by Shelter predicts that the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation could jump by 44% to 182,000 by 2029.
This would include 206,000 children – a 26% increase – and would see the cost to the taxpayer spiral 71% to £3.9bn.
Mairi MacRae, director of policy and campaigns at Shelter, urged the Government to invest in the delivery of social housing rather than spending money on temporary accommodation.
‘Local councils are buckling under the pressure of the housing emergency, forced to spend billions just to keep people off the streets,’ she said.
‘It’s nonsensical that we keep sinking tax-payers money into damaging short-term fixes when we could invest in lasting solutions that give families the security and stability of a real home.’
