LONDON — The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee released a report finding that about 135,000 families, including just under 176,000 children, are living in temporary housing across England, the highest number on record. The cross-party report found some families are living in properties unfit for human habitation and called for overcrowding laws to be updated, for councils to be required to inspect properties to ensure they are free from hazards and in a decent condition, and for Awaab's Law to be fully applied to temporary accommodation.

Awaab's Law came into effect in 2025 and requires social landlords in England to repair urgent hazards reported to them within 24 hours and hazards from damp and mould. The law is named after Awaab Ishak, who died aged two from a serious respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his parents' social home, which they had repeatedly reported to their landlord.

Nestere Yehdego, 31, his wife and their two daughters aged four and one live together in a one-bedroom flat in Slough that has had problems with mould and damp. The family has lived in the flat for two years after being moved from east London by Newham Council. Yehdego said one of his children developed a rash. "When I went to the GP he asked me whether we kept any pets and when I said no, they said it [the rash] was coming from the house," he said.

"My first child can't sleep well, as the younger one normally wakes her up three or four times a night by crying or making noise. She is going to school next year and I'm worried because if she doesn't sleep enough she will be tired," Yehdego said.

A Newham Council spokesman said: "Like many parts of London, Newham is facing an unprecedented housing crisis where the demand far outweighs the number of available properties. While we prioritise to place people in homes within the borough, we are sometimes forced to secure temporary accommodation outside of Newham. The safety and wellbeing of our residents is our absolute priority."

Sarah Elliott, Chief Executive of Shelter, said temporary accommodation problems were directly linked to a lack of permanent, affordable housing. "Record numbers of children are homeless in England today because successive governments have failed to build the social rent homes these families have been crying out for," she said. "Every day our services hear from families who are stuck in grotty hostels and one-room B&Bs, where mould climbs the walls and children are boxed into tiny spaces with no privacy or room to play," Elliott said.

A separate report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation found that living in temporary accommodation contributed to the deaths of at least 104 children in England between 2019 and 2025. Of those, 76 were under the age of one and 19 were living in hostels, hotels or B&Bs when they died. Almost one in four of the children lived in London, while around four in 10 were from an ethnic minority background. The authors said poverty, deprivation, and race inequalities were the main contributors.