What is temporary accommodation?

Temporary accommodation (TA) is a broad term that describes temporary housing for people who are homeless. People who are placed here often have little or no tenancy rights.

Anyone can be placed in temporary accommodation by local authorities under the Housing Act 1996, providing they fit the criteria of being in priority need and are ‘vulnerable enough.’ This is often families with children, pregnant women, elderly people and individuals who are particularly vulnerable.

Others find themselves living in temporary accommodation through other means, such as placements under different legal duties held by either the National Probation Service or Adult Social Care. They can also end up there through a self-placement, where an individual can turn up and get a room.

Latest government figures show there are officially 117,450 households, including 151,630 children in temporary accommodation; a new high since records began 25 years ago. However, many people slip through the cracks and go unrecorded, therefore the real figures are likely to be much higher. All people living in temporary accommodation are hidden homeless because their experience of homelessness is not visible in the way that street homelessness (rough sleeping) is.

Although intended to be temporary, the acute shortage of truly affordable housing in the UK means that people can wait years for a longer-term home. Justlife’s previous research into a form of TA used primarily by single homeless households, Unsupported Temporary Accommodation (UTA), found that residents can be stuck in this accommodation from anywhere between 6 months and 36 years (Lifting the Lid, 2017).

There is a 6 week limit on the length of time a family with children can live in a B&B, yet of the 4,480 households with children in B&Bs, 2,510 had been resident for more than the statutory limit of 6 weeks, up 146.1% from last year.

Unsupported Temporary Accommodation (UTA) is a term Justlife uses to describe private rented accommodation (B&Bs, hostels, houses in multiple occupation) where people who are homeless do not have permanent residency status and receive very limited support to find a home.

This means they have little to no housing rights, can be evicted at short notice, and often have to navigate the difficult journey of finding a stable home on their own.

Although it is considered the last housing option before rough sleeping, UTA is typically ignored in legislation, policy, and initiatives aimed at reducing or ending homelessness.

People living here are omitted from official homelessness statistics and are not always considered homeless, even though they do not have access to safe, secure and settled housing, which fits the legal definition of homelessness. In Manchester, Justlife primarily supports individuals (single homeless households) living in UTA.