DOZENS of homeless children in Barnsley had to live in temporary accommodation in the first three months of the year, it has been revealed.
Shelter warned thousands of children were facing a ‘long summer stuck in damaging and insecure’ accommodation and urged the government to dramatically increase its social home building plans.
New figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, show there were 48 children living in temporary accommodation - a form of homelessness - in Barnsley at the end of March.
This was a fall from the 56 a year earlier.
Across England, the number of children in temporary accommodation stood at 169,050 in March, up from 151,630 a year earlier, and the highest since records began in 1998.
Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said the figures were the ‘devastating result of a severe shortage of social rent homes and inadequate levels of housing benefit that continue to trap families in homelessness’.
She added: “As an immediate relief for struggling families, the government must unfreeze local housing allowance in the Autumn Budget, so it covers at least the bottom third of local rents.
“But there’s only one way to ensure everyone has access to a safe and secure home in the long run, and that’s social rent homes.”
She called on the government to deliver the new social rent homes it has already promised, and ramp up construction to 90,000 a year for ten years.
There were also 72 households assessed by Barnsley Council as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty.
This was fewer than the 99 a year earlier.
Of those households, 21 were headed by a single parent, and seven were couples with dependent children.
Nationally, 37,610 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty, down 4.5 per cent from the same quarter last year.
John Glenton, executive director at the charity Riverside, which provides accommodation for people affected by homelessness, said the numbers were ‘greatly concerning’, but there were opportunities to better use existing social housing stock.
“It is particularly disappointing to see the number of additional homeless children living in temporary accommodation continuing to increase so rapidly,” he said.
“However, the number of homeless households moved out of temporary accommodation into social housing has increased by almost an eighth over the past 12 months compared to the previous year.
“We know moving families out of temporary accommodation and into a social rent home works.”
Coun Wendy Cain, cabinet spokesperson for public health and communities, said: “Barnsley Council is fully committed to ending homelessness through our Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy.
“Our priority is to take a prevention-first approach, providing advice and support to people at risk of homelessness as early as possible, before they reach crisis point.
“We’re working hard to reduce the use of temporary accommodation by raising awareness among frontline services, encouraging early referrals, and embedding housing support into wider assessments and services.
“We know the cost-of-living crisis and shortage of affordable housing continue to create real challenges, but we remain determined to work in partnership to support those most in need.
“We’ve recently invested further in our homelessness service to increase capacity and strengthen early intervention.
“Additional government funding will also support prevention work linked to hospital discharges and domestic abuse, two of the most common causes of temporary accommodation placements.”
