Recommendation 4

The shortage of social housing in England has led local authorities to rely on using B&Bs and other accommodation with shared facilities as temporary accommodation, which are inappropriate and potentially unsafe environments for children to grow up in. The Government already requires that families are only housed in B&Bs as a “last resort”, yet there has been a striking rise in the number of families placed in B&B temporary accommodation for more than six weeks unlawfully. We have heard evidence of children being moved from B&B to B&B; families being asked to leave their room and wait for their next nightly placement; and a family being placed in B&B accommodation for 19 weeks. For too many families, the legal six-week limit on families being placed in B&B accommodation is meaningless, as their local authority does not adhere to it and there are no effective sanctions for breaches. (Conclusion, Paragraph 43)