A new government report reveals some families are living in conditions ‘so poor as to be unfit for human habitation’.
The cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said nearly 176,000 children are now living in temporary accommodation, often for periods between two and five years.
Evidence submitted to the inquiry described severe conditions, including black mould covering walls, clothes and bedding; rat infestations and families defecating in bin bags because toilets were broken.
Other accounts included reports of sexual harassment of children in shared facilities.
‘The absence of official statistics on the physical condition of temporary accommodation means it is not possible to establish the prevalence and severity of poor conditions across England,’ the report states. ‘The government is spending more than ever on temporary accommodation without a good understanding of the quality of provision this money is paying for. This is not acceptable.’
MPs heard that some families of six are living in a single room, while parents have had to stand guard outside bathrooms while their teenagers daughters wash.
In other cases, disabled children have suffered serious injuries because hoists cannot be used in inaccessible rooms.
News of the report comes as more than 135,000 households are in temporary accommodation, with costs reaching £2.8bn last year. The Committee warned councils are stuck in a ‘vicious cycle’, as housing benefit rates have been frozen since 2011.
The government has pledged to extend the Decent Homes Standard and ‘Awaab’s Law‘ to temporary accommodation, but MPs said full implementation may not happen until 2035.
They have called for mandatory inspections, an end to placing families in shared facilities with single male adults, and for the six-week limit on B&B use to be extended to all shared accommodation.
Matthew Downie, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, described the situation as a ‘normalised emergency’.
The Committee chair, Florence Eshalomi MP, said: ‘Too often temporary accommodation is so poor it damages children’s health, safety and development. Without urgent action, we are failing a generation.’
A separate report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation, published on Wednesday, found that 104 children died between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2025, with temporary accommodation linked to their ill health or death.
The report also confirmed 140 children sadly lost their lives between October 2023 and September 2025, with their main residence recorded as temporary accommodation.
Officials said whether housing conditions contributed to those deaths will be examined through the standard review process, meaning the earlier figure of 104 could increase in the coming years.
Image: Denis Oliveira/UnSplash
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