This data is released on the same day as a report from the cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee finds that children and families live in accommodation “so poor as to be unfit for human habitation”.
Around 135,000 households are currently living in temporary accommodation, including almost 176,000 children. Temporary accommodation is short-term housing for people facing homelessness, assigned by councils according to priority need.
Florence Eshalomi, MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green and chair of the HCLG Committee, said: “It is truly devastating that this crisis has become a normalised emergency, with many families stuck in so-called temporary accommodation, and without a permanent roof over their head, for years.”
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Additional new figures from MBRACE-UK show that out of all 3,303 deaths of babies born between 1 January and 3 December 2024, at least 91 were to mothers living in temporary accommodation.
That is almost two families bereaved every week.
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A total of 64 of these were stillbirths and 27 were neonatal deaths, referring to babies who did not live to the age of 28 weeks.
Professor Lucy Smith, professor of perinatal health, and Dr Ruth Matthews, research associate at MBRRACE-UK and the University of Leicester, said: “The death of a baby is a devastating tragedy for families and communities.
“This is the first time national data has been collected that specifically identifies families living in these challenging circumstances who have experienced the loss of their baby.
“While no dataset can convey the depth of grief felt by these families, establishing a clearer understanding of the number of lives affected is an essential step forward.”
The researchers hope these findings will prompt coordinated action across health, housing and social care to support babies and their families and prevent deaths.
Off the back of the findings, the All-Parliamentary Group for Households (APPG) in Temporary Accommodation has published a series of recommendations for government departments.
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It calls for improved standards of temporary accommodation and better support for pregnant women experiencing homelessness.
This includes ensuring families have access to cots and other safe sleeping options, as this is not believed to be routine practice, despite it being included in statutory guidance.
Chair of the APPG Siobhan McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden, said: “We should all be outraged by these figures.”
Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis, added: “It has become a normalised emergency that rarely makes the headlines or the top of the government’s priority list.
“But this, surely, must act as a wake-up call. No child should have to grow up without a safe place to call home, let alone lose their life as a result of our broken housing and homelessness system. It’s deplorable and, crucially, avoidable.”
The HCLG Committee is calling for mandatory inspections to ensure that properties are in a decent condition and free from hazards, and for unsuitable forms of accommodation to be phased out.
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Measures set out in the government’s child poverty and homelessness strategies will make a start.
The government has also set out an ambition to end homelessness – including reducing the numbers of people living in temporary accommodation. It has also pledged to end the unlawful placement of families in B&Bs beyond the six-week legal limit.
Alison McGovern, minister of state for homelessness and local government, said: “It breaks my heart that B&Bs are tragically contributing to the deaths of children. We must and we are improving the whole system, so every child can get the best start in life.”
McGovern claimed the child poverty strategy sets out a commitment to “eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in healthcare provision”.
“Alongside this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will provide the strongest protections in a generation, making sure vulnerable children are identified, supported and never again allowed to fall through the cracks,” the minister added.
While supportive of the plans to prevent the unlawful placement families in B&Bs beyond the six-week limit, the HCLG Committee raised concerns that councils may resort to using out-of-area placements and other types of shared accommodation to meet the B&B target. It called for safeguards to be put in place to ensure this does not happen.
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MPs from the committee also said Awaab’s Law, which requires social landlords to fix hazards within set timescales, must be fully applied to temporary accommodation by 2029.
McDonagh welcomed the government’s commitment to addressing the impact of temporary accommodation on children, particularly its aim to reduce child mortality, but she warned: “We need urgent, sustained action to bring down the number of homeless children and to ensure that no family is left in conditions that put lives at risk. Until that happens, we cannot honestly say we are doing enough.”
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