Figures released this morning by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) reveal that the number of children living in temporary accommodation (TA) in England has reached a record high. For the reporting period of October to December 2025, the figure rose by 6.4% year-on-year to 176,130.

In the final quarter of 2025, 134,210 households were in temporary accommodation, a 5% increase from the previous year. Conversely, the data shows a 3% decrease in the number of households threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty (33,650), suggesting that fewer households are approaching their local council.

Polimapper has visualised the latest statutory homelessness dataset at the local authority level, highlighting regional disparities.

The London borough of Newham registered the highest rate of households in temporary accommodation by a significant margin, at 59 per 1,000 households. This is followed by the boroughs of Westminster, Hackney, and Lambeth. In contrast, several local authorities, including Waverley, Dudley, and Staffordshire Moorlands, reported rates near zero.

Geodata context

This quarterly release comes just one day before the government’s Renters’ Rights Bill takes effect, introducing a suite of new protections for renters.

Sarah Elliott, chief executive of Shelter: “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.”

“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.”

The urgency of the crisis was underscored last week by data suggesting a link between temporary accommodation and the deaths of 104 children in England, 76 of whom were under the age of one.

Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis: “No child should have to grow up without a safe place to call home, let alone lose their life as a result of our broken housing and homelessness system. It’s deplorable and, crucially, avoidable.”