Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 23
1st Report - England’s Homeless Children: The crisis in temporary accommodation
Published 3 Apr 2025
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Children in Temporary Accommodation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Local authority owned housing for temporary accommodation is a more cost-efficient means of providing higher quality temporary accommodation for families in the long term. It is unacceptable that some affordable homes are currently sitting empty while families are stuck in temporary accommodation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 90) The Government should extend its support for local authorities to acquire their own temporary accommodation stock through the Local Authority Housing Fund, including by acquiring empty affordable homes delivered through planning obligations. These new homes should be acquired within the local authority’s own area as far as possible. The Government should also consider the issue of empty affordable homes as part of its forthcoming long-term housing strategy with regard to the investment barriers, such as environmental requirements, which are preventing housing associations from taking on new social housing stock. (Recommendation, Paragraph 90)
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 1st Report - England’s Homeless Children: The crisis in temporary accommodation (HC 338), 3 April 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 June 2025 (deadline 3 June 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the inquiry and says it is keen to work with the Committee on its recommendations as it develops the homelessness strategy, agreeing with some points and disagreeing with others.
- It does not agree that councils should never place families in accommodation with facilities shared with single adults, saying well managed placements can be appropriate in some instances, though it agrees this "should be rare".
- It states that it wants to "eliminate the use of B&Bs for families other than in genuine emergencies" and is working with 20 local authorities through the £8 million Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots.
- On temporary accommodation standards, it intends the Decent Homes Standard to apply, "subject to consultation on the detail", and plans to consult on how best to apply Awaab's Law to accommodation occupied under licence.
- It commits to publishing the homelessness strategy "later this year" rather than by July 2025, and says detailed minutes of ministerial meetings "are not normally disclosed".