The number of homeless children living in temporary accommodation in England has hit a record high, reaching 176,130 in December, official figures show.
Latest government statistics have also revealed that there are now 134,210 households across the country living homeless in temporary accommodation, up five per cent in a year. However, marks a slight quarter-to-quarter fall in the overall number for the first time in three years.
The last quarterly fall was at the end of March 2022 when the number of households stood at 95,000, down from 96,280 at the end of December 2021.
Publishing the figures on Thursday, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “While this shift is small, this is the first quarter that the number of households in temporary accommodation has fallen since 2022.”
The new figures come on the eve of the Renter’s Rights Act coming into effect, which brings greater protection to tenants across the UK.
Labour’s flagship rental reform bill will end the use of controversial Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, convert all fixed-term tenancies to periodic rolling contracts, and give tenants more power to challenge rent increases.
The government says that this “indicates fewer households are approaching their local council and receiving support because they are at risk or have recently become homeless.”
Sarah Elliott, chief executive of Shelter, said: “The fact the number of children homeless has risen for the seventeenth time in a row is hard to stomach. This terrible track record speaks to the desperate shortage of social homes and a rental system stacked against tenants for too long.
“Losing a privately rented home has been a major cause of homelessness for years, with dreaded no-fault evictions responsible for leaving thousands of families without a home.”
The data also shows that the number of households that had an initial assessment for homelessness was down 1.3 per cent in October to December 2025 compared to the same time last year. In the same period the number of households assessed as being at risk of homelessness was down 3.1 per cent.
Ms Elliot added: “The incoming Renters Rights Act marks a giant step forward, finally giving renters hard won protections from unfair evictions. But the only way to end homelessness for good, is for the government to rapidly increase the number of genuinely affordable social rent homes by helping councils to build at scale again.”
Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 to boost affordability and tackle homelessness, and 180,000 social homes by 2036.
However, experts say that the government’s social home target falls far short of what is required. Shelter has called on the government to build 90,000 social homes a year for a decade to make up for the net loss of 260,000 seen in the 10 years to 2022-2023.
Lord John Bird, the founder of the Big Issue, said: “The government’s investment in homelessness is beginning to turn the tide. While it’s good to see numbers starting to fall, we must be wary of becoming over-reliant on the sticking plaster solution of temporary accommodation.”
“In better news, Section 21 no-fault evictions will finally meet their long overdue end tomorrow. This sword of Damocles will be lifted from over the heads of renters at long last. This is true homelessness prevention – turning off the tap and halting the flow of millions of households being unfairly pushed out of private rentals and into homelessness.”
The government was approached for comment.
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