2024 Labour Party Conference: a Better Vision for Temporary Accommodation

There are currently 117,450 households in temporary accommodation. This is a new historic high and a 12.3% rise since the same time last year. The new Labour government has inherited an unprecedented homelessness crisis, but with the right policies, they can turn this around and build a better vision for households stuck in temporary accommodation (TA). This year there were two events focused on Temporary Accommodation at the Labour Party conference. Below we share the main themes from both our event and the event our friends at the Shared Health Foundation held.

Our event introduced policy solutions proposed in our sector-wide consultation on what a better vision of TA could be. The report, which will be released in the next few months, provides a starting point for bold, radical change that will address the problems of TA on multiple fronts. The event was chaired by our Head of Research, Policy and Communciations, Christa Maciver and had three panellists: Morgan Tebbs, author of Better Vision work; Ray, a lived experience representative from Crisis, and Siobhain McDonagh MP for Mitchem & Morden and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Temporary Accommodation.

Morgan opened the discussion with an insight into the collective vision developed by participants of our consultation, highlighting key themes of homelessness prevention, raising standards in TA, addressing the lack of support, and breaking the cycle of homelessness.

On prevention, building social housing was expectedly mentioned by the majority, alongside wider measures such as using empty homes for social rent and scrapping Right to Buy. Over half mentioned rent controls to give tenants greater security and ease demand-related pressures on TA. Many emphasised the importance of supporting people as they transition out of health, social care, asylum and prison systems, to reduce their risk of homelessness. Morgan also noted that a significant proportion of the homelessness prevention budget is being spent on TA. By redirecting these funds into genuine prevention, we could not only save money but also prevent the associated traumas of homelessness, which lead to increased costs and system pressures down the line.

The unacceptable conditions too many endure in TA were also a recurring theme of the consultation. In spite of multiple reports of TA putting people’s lives at risk, it remains without any enforceable standards. All participants wanted a baseline level of standards, including cooking facilities, basic furniture and WiFi, as well as a mechanism to enforce those standards that would include pre-move in assessments, regular inspections, and a clear complaints procedure.

To address the lack of support often reported by people with lived experience, participants advocated for a single designated support worker for all people experiencing homelessness. Comparably easier to implement measures could include service information packs provided to every household and improved signposting within local authority housing teams to link people in with available resources and support.

To prevent people becoming entrenched in a cycle of homelessness and returning to support services even after they have found a tenancy, participants mentioned government-funded deposits for private rented properties, alongside funding to support those struggling with their mental health or substance addiction after they move out of TA.

Ray shared a powerful and moving testimony about his experience of living in a HMO, sofa surfing and rough sleeping before being placed in temporary accommodation. He spoke of the trauma of having to repeatedly explain his housing situation to support services and of not knowing whether he would be spending that night until very late in the day.

Once placed in TA, he thought it was going to be temporary but ended up living there for 11 months. His mental health deteriorated to the point where he felt scared to be in a room on his own. Ray remembers thinking this can’t happen to anyone else and called on the government to make clear commitments on social housing: “stop talking and start building”, ending with a clear message that we have to keep fighting for TA to be better and that the money spent on TA should be redirected to social housing.

Siobhain McDonagh MP said housing is the single biggest issue residents raise at her weekly advice surgery, with temporary accommodation dominating discussions because of challenges around out-of-area placements, poor quality standards and proximity to school or hospital. Even though Murton, her constituency, has the lowest TA numbers in London, Siobhain said she has become a “quasi housing department” and spends most of her time on the phone to the council trying to get people closer to their home area.

Councils are spending unprecedented amounts on “Terrible accommodation that people don’t want to live in”...“How does a brand new government after 8 weeks begin to change that?” For Siobhain, the only way we will improve standards is by having an independent regulator to enforce the code of guidance that councils are finding increasingly difficult to abide by because they are so focused on getting a roof over people’s heads. The need for a regulator with sufficient powers to enforce standards was echoed in our consultation. We hope to work closely with the government to explore how this could be implemented to ensure people can live in safety while they wait for a home in TA.

We want to thank the people with lived experience and colleagues from the sector who participated in our “Better Vision for TA” consultation, and everyone who came to our fringe event. It was inspiring to hear a united voice in support of making experiences in TA short, safe and healthy, and we will continue to push for this vision to be implemented in government.

The Shared Health Foundation hosted the other fringe event on Temporary Accommodation, focussing on the devastating impacts of life in temporary accommodation for children. Chaired by Helena Dollimore, MP for Hastings and Rye, and member of the APPG for Households in Temporary Accommodation, the event’s all-female panel described a bleak present with a hopeful future.

New Minister for Building Safety & Homelessness, Rushanara Ali MP, discussed the government’s plans for the future. Admitting the difficulty of the situation Labour have taken control of, the MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney nevertheless offered hope. Particularly promising are the government’s plans to end ‘No-Fault’ evictions, and the upcoming cross-governmental strategy to end homelessness, chaired by Angela Rayner. There are also plans to build homes with Rushanara reaffirming the 1.5 million figure for affordable homes. This will need to include a significant proportion of social homes if we are to seriously tackle hidden homelessness.

Dr Laura Neilson, CEO of Shared Health, discussed the poor health and educational outcomes for children growing up in TA. Out-of-area placements were stressed as having a particularly disrupting effect, with Laura highlighting how constant moves in and out of TA can cause children to fall out of the education system.

Laura also highlighted the need to enforce current guidelines when it comes to standards in TA. The TA APPG successfully campaigned last year, to change the code of guidance to include the need for cots in all temporary accommodation housing children under 2. However, the worry is that, without enforcement, we will continue to see infant mortality figures similar to the 55 children who died in TA between 2019 and 2023. Hopefully the government can look to expand on standards in TA, and set up a model for enforcement.

Bev Craig, Deputy Mayor for Greater Manchester and Leader of Manchester City Council, spoke last. Bev described how Manchester is bucking the national trend with regards to TA. Rather than a sharp rise in the number of families living in TA, MCC has seen a decrease from 3300 to 2800 over the last year. One reason for this success is MCCs focus on prevention, which Bev suggests needs special investment in the coming months and years, to bring down the numbers across the country. Manchester is also on a mission to build, pursuing a target of 10,000 social homes by 2028. Hopefully we’ll see further successes in Manchester in the coming years, which other local areas can emulate.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Labour Party Conference to push for shorter, safer and healthier experiences in temporary accommodation. It was amazing to have two events focused specifically on TA at the conference and to hear it referenced so many times on different housing panels. However, there is still a gap in ambitions to build housing and a lot more to be done to lessen the detrimental impact of TA in the immediate future.

Justlife will continue to lobby the government to do more in this space. This includes pushing for more details on the Ending Homelessness unit (including how it will meaningfully involve people with lived experience voice), along with increasing benefits for the sector, improve communication, and enforceable standards for TA.