According to statistics on the homeless in the UK, over 2,500 children are illegally housed in bed and breakfast establishments.
Studies
The statistics illustrate that 1,300 families that included children staying in B&Bs over 6 weeks which is a 24% increase compared to last year.
The law states that councils may only house families in B&Bs when left with no other choice, and even at that, for a duration no longer than six weeks.
B&Bs are not equipped for cooking and laundry, and also lack space and privacy.
The problem is that councils are recognizing and increasing amount of families as homeless, which makes finding proper accommodation increasingly difficult.
The statistics show that 117,000 children, whom are part of 74,630 families, are placed in temporary homes in England. Approximately one third of these households are placed in temporary accommodation away from their areas. By far, most of these families are from London. The main cause of homelessness was eviction.
Response
A charity called Shelter has argued that real figures relating to homelessness are downplayed and that it is a bigger issue than the government makes it out to be.
Another NGO, The Chartered Institute of Housing, said that homelessness is increasing.
London councils have resorted to putting families in Travelodge hotels, buying small housing units, and buying homes in other boroughs.
Some are campaigning to halt benefit cuts, such as the freeze on housing benefit levels, and benefit cap, will inevitably lead to more evictions driving up the number of homeless households. This is in contrast with the homelessness reduction bill, supported by the government, that will increase safeguards to eviction.
Rick Henderson, the chief executive of Homeless Link, stated that the ‘poor standard of accommodation’ will have an impact on government expenditure and more importantly will impact the people living in these quarters.