80 homeless children died while living in temporary accommodation last year, new figures show
80 homeless children died while living in temporary accommodation last year, new figures show
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In the past five years, temporary housing has been listed as a possible factor in the deaths of 74 children. Eighty children died while living in temporary accommodation in England last year, shocking new figures that highlight the impact of homelessness have revealed.
![[Nearly 160,000 children were living in temporary accommodation as of June 2024, government figures showed]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/27/16/GettyImages-1246498859.jpg)
Analysis from a group of MPs also shows that, over the past five years, 74 children have died with temporary accommodation listed as a possible contributing factor to their vulnerability, ill health or death. Fifty-eight of these children were aged under one, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Households in Temporary Accommodation found.
Dame Siobhain McDonagh, chair of the APPG, described the figures as “shocking”. Big Issue founder Lord John Bird, said the numbers were “a shameful tragedy” as he called on the government to “urgently move away from this sticking plaster solution to homelessness”.
In total between October 2023 and September last year, 80 children died while living in temporary accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs, according to the National Child Mortality Database. This accounted for three per cent of the total number of child deaths during that period.
Dr Laura Neilson, chief executive of Shared Health, which examines the impact of poverty on people’s health, said: “We know that if you repeatedly move a child or baby, place them in accommodation without a cot or cooking facilities and disconnect a family from support, the chance of death is increased.
