Terrifying map shows number of homeless children in England - check your area

A record number of children were living in temporary accommodation in March, according to new Government figures. A total of 131,140 English households were homelessbetween January and March of this year.

That's up from 123,100 last summer, just before the Labour Government came to power, and is the highest number on record since Tony Blair was Prime Minister.

The figures also revealed that 169,050 children lived in temporary accommodation across the country. It's the highest number on record, up from 159,380 at the end of June last year. One encouraging stat for the Government, however, is that the number of families living in B&Bs long term is falling. Check our interactive tool below to see how bad the problem is in your local area...

At the end of June 2024, 3,770 families with children had been living in B&Bs for over six weeks.

That was the highest on record and was up from 160 in 2010 before the coalition Government came to power. The number has fallen consistently since then and currently stands at 2,300 households.

Responding to the figures, Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said: "Behind every statistic are thousands of stories of people facing some of the most stressful, traumatic and insecure times of their lives.

"More and more children are spending their formative years trapped living in temporary accommodation, often in overcrowded and unsafe conditions and at huge cost to local authorities. This is a national scandal that demands Government action.

"Renting is broken. With rent prices soaring far beyond what we earn, people are forced into temporary accommodation because they simply can't find somewhere affordable to live.

"The Government's house building programme is welcome, but will take years to have a noticeable impact. People need change now.

"Government must slam the brakes on soaring rents, while also unfreezing Local Housing Allowance so those on low incomes are also able to stay in their homes."

The number of homeless households varies across the country. At the end of March, 6,980 homeless households lived in temporary accommodation in Newham.

That's more than any other council area in the country. Some 4,988 of those households had children, leaving 10,178 kids in the area living in temporary accommodation.

Birmingham had the next highest number of homeless households in the country, with 5,278. Those households had 11,293 children between them, which is the highest number of homeless children of any local authority in England.

Westminster has the third-highest number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation, with 4,254 (including 3,708 children).

That's followed by Southwark with 4,208 households and 3,764 children, Wandsworth with 3,614 households and 3,748 children, and Hackney with 3,567 households and 4,182 children.

Manchester had the highest number of homeless people living in temporary accommodation outside of London and Birmingham. There were 2,740 homeless households in the city, including 4,587 children.

Minister for Homelessness, Rushanara Ali said: "Behind every homeless statistic is a person failed by the very system that is supposed to protect them. Reversing years of failure won't happen overnight and I am determined to go further and faster to end the devastating crisis we inherited.

"The latest figures show positive signs of fewer families living in B&Bs and more households moving into settled accommodation, but I know far more needs to be done.

"We're already investing £1 billion into councils this year, including the largest ever cash boost in homelessness prevention, and thanks to the recent Spending Review this record investment has now been protected for future years ensuring continued support for those who need it most.

"We must dig deep to tackle the root causes of homelessness. That's why we've announced a huge £39 billion investment to build hundreds of thousands of social and affordable homes over the next decade, alongside abolishing Section 21 no fault evictions and driving up standards to deliver safe and secure housing for all."