Housing crisis Rise in number of children living in temporary accommodation

THE number of homeless children living in temporary accommodation in the Bristol area has continued to rise under the new Labour government.

- Estel FARELL ROIG

A total of 2,119 children in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire were homeless and living in temporary housing such as hotels and B&Bs between October and December 2024.

That's up from 2,071 children in the previous quarter, and 1,877 children in the same period of 2023. It’s also the highest on record since comparable figures became available in 2019.

The majority of the children (1,948 of them) were in Bristol. That's up from 1687 at the same time last year.

Across England as a whole, the numbers continued to rise up to the end of December. A total of 165,510 children were homeless and living in temporary housing such as hotels and B&Bs between October and December 2024.

That's up from 163,970 children in the previous quarter and 145,780 at the same time last year.

Bristol has seen a small increase in the number of families stuck in B&Bs for over six weeks.

In Bristol, 12 families had been in B&Bs for over six weeks at the end of last year. That's up from 10 in the three months to October and seven at the same point last year.

The problem of homeless households having to live in temporary accommodation is more prominent in some parts of the country.