Children are dying in temporary accommodation, because regulation is failing them

74 children have died while living in government-assigned temporary accommodation where a  lack of a permanent home was listed as a contributing factor in their deaths.

New insight from Inventory Base estimates that over 80,500 families with children are currently living in temporary accommodation across the UK. Without the protection of robust regulation or enforcement, these families face increased risks from unsafe, overcrowded, or unsanitary conditions.

Social housing is strictly regulated to safeguard families from known hazards like damp, mould and overcrowding. But as the supply of social housing falls far short of demand, thousands of families are being diverted into temporary accommodation where those same protections often don’t apply.

As of Q3 2024 , 126,040 households are living in temporary accommodation – up from 98,840 just two years earlier. This number continues to rise quarter after quarter.

Yet temporary accommodation remains dangerously under-regulated.

While technically covered by legal standards, temporary housing is not held to the same safety and suitability benchmarks as social housing. Inspections are often inconsistent, and enforcement is patchy at best. The consequences have been devastating.

According to research from The Shared Health Foundation, between 2019 and 2024, 74 children died while in temporary accommodation with their environment recorded as a contributing factor.

78.4% were under the age of one, 21.6% were under 18. without urgent reform, more young lives will be lost.

Of the 126,040 households living in temporary accommodation, 64% include children. That’s at least 80,530 children living in non-permanent, unsafe environments.

Temporary accommodation regulation is not fit for purpose

The law requires temporary accommodation to be ‘suitable’ under Section 206 of the Housing Act 1996; addressing factors like location, health impact, and overcrowding.

Families with children or pregnant women should not be housed in B&Bs for more than 6 weeks. But only “where alternatives exist”, a loophole is too often exploited.

Councils also have duties under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to inspect and act on serious hazards.

But as Sián Hemming-Metcalfe, Operations Director at Inventory Base, explained, “Many families remain in overcrowded or unsafe temporary accommodation due to housing shortages, and some councils simply don’t have the boots on the ground to inspect properties.

It is unacceptable that temporary accommodation is less regulated than the social housing programmes families are waiting to access. The result has been nothing short of catastrophic -74 children have died, at least in part due to the poor living standards they were placed into. Temporary accommodation isn’t a safety net, it’s becoming a silent crisis and regulation only protects people if it is enforced.”