Information reported quarterly by local authorities includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, as arranged by the local authority under homelessness legislation. The number of these households which include dependent children or a pregnant woman has been reported since March 2002, and the number of children or expected children in these households has been reported since June 2004.
Latest figures, for 30 September 2006, show that there were 1,871 dependent children in bed-and-breakfast style accommodation and 129,341 in all forms of total temporary accommodation. These figures also include expected children when a pregnant woman is part of the household.
The Government have made significant progress in tackling the use of inappropriate temporary accommodation for families assisted under the homelessness legislation. In March 2002, the Government set a target that no family with children should have to live in bed and breakfast provided as temporary accommodation under the homelessness legislation for more than six weeks. At that time, there were 6,960 families living in bed and breakfast as temporary accommodation, of which it was estimated that between 3,500 and 4,000 had been in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks. The target was met by 31 March 2004 and, to ensure it would be sustained, the Government made the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003, which came into force on 1 April 2004. The effect of the order is that, under the homelessness legislation, bed and breakfast cannot not be regarded as suitable accommodation for families with children unless alternative accommodation is not available, and even then cannot be regarded as suitable for more than six weeks.
In addition, in January 2005 the Government announced in “Homes for All” its commitment to halve the number of all households in temporary accommodation by 2010, and more recently on 14 November 2006, a further commitment that by 2010, no 16 or 17-year-olds should be placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation by a local authority under the homelessness legislation, except in an emergency.