Councils in England are spending five times more on housing homeless people in B&Bs than they were a decade ago, as the numbers of people needing to be put up in temporary accommodation soars, analysis of official figures shows.
Shortage of suitable housing means councils spent £142m on B&Bs in 2019-20, up from £27m in 2010, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).
Over the same period, the numbers of people housed annually in B&Bs rose from 2,310 to 10,510 – a 350% increase.
“Sadly, these figures reflect the scale of the housing challenges that our country faces. Councils will only use bed and breakfasts as a last resort, but the severe lack of suitable housing means they now have no choice,” said Councillor David Renard, the LGA’s housing spokesperson.
“This is hugely disruptive to families with children, and the rising demand for support has come with soaring costs for councils.”
B&Bs are regarded as unsuitable for anything more than short stays for homeless people because of lack of space, privacy and washing facilities. It is against the law for councils to house families with children in B&Bs for more than six weeks.
But their use has crept up in recent years as homelessness has increased, council resources have become more depleted, and suitable temporary accommodation has become scarcer and more expensive.
There are concerns the problem could get worse as pandemic support for families is phased out in autumn.
Council leaders, before the LGA annual conference next week, called on ministers to give local authorities more power and resources to build 100,000 social homes for rent to help reduce homelessness.
They also want the government to bring forward its pledge to end no-fault evictions and improvements to the social security system, including the retention of the £20 uplift to universal credit, due to be reversed in October, and a review of the benefit cap.
Jon Sparkes, the chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, said the figures were deeply concerning.
“We routinely hear from people trapped in B&Bs, where the rooms are so crowded they must share a bed with their children and often don’t have the facilities to cook their own meals or do their own washing.
“No one should be forced to live like this or shoulder the anxiety that tomorrow they could be moved somewhere else even less suitable.”
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “As you would expect, the decisive action we have taken to protect vulnerable people and save lives during the pandemic has clearly contributed to these figures.
“Our Homelessness Reduction Act has already helped nearly 350,000 households into more permanent accommodation and we’re investing £750m over the next year alone to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping and lessen the need for temporary accommodation.
“We’re investing more than £12bn in affordable housing over five years, the largest investment in a decade, with half for affordable and social rent.”
