A new national building programme to tackle the temporary accommodation crisis?

Could the Government announce a new national building programme to tackle the temporary accommodation crisis ?

With an increasingly serious temporary accommodation crisis, there is an opportunity to remove red tape and prioritise innovative programmes to provide the housing that is required. The Housing & Finance Institute's 'Operation Homemaker' provides a template for the type of new approach that could be introduced to provide more temporary accommodation – a bricks & mortar approach that could see more homes built faster to meet temporary accommodation needs and provide lasting and secure homes for people in need.

Recent MHCLG statistics showed that as at 30 June 2025, over 132,410 households were in temporary accommodation, an increase of 7.6% from the previous year. Households with children in temporary accommodation increased by 7.5% to 84,240, and single households in temporary accommodation increased by 7.9% to 48,170.

Solving the temporary accommodation crisis should be recognised as priority building programme of nationally significant infrastructure, with dedicated funding prioritised for immediate deployment from the Government's £39billion capital funding programme, matched with institutional funding, together with the fast tracking of planning through a new permitted development emergency accommodation regime.

A national priority building programme of over 100,000 homes would not only help the many households in greatest need of housing, it would also provide a much needed boost to housebuilders across the country, boosting economic growth in the process.

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