'Devastating' figures show number of Walsall children in temporary accommodation on the rise as England faces growing concerns over affordable housing
More children in Walsall were forced to live in temporary accommodation in the first three months of this year, new figures show.
Data released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shows there were 253 children living in temporary accommodation – a form of homelessness – in Walsall at the end of March, up from 217 a year earlier.
It comes as the total across England hit a record high, with 169,050 children living in temporary accommodation in March, up from 151,630 a year earlier, and the highest since records began in 1998.
Shelter warned thousands of children were facing a "long summer stuck in damaging and insecure" accommodation and urged the Government to dramatically increase its social home building plans.
Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said the figures were the "devastating result of a severe shortage of social rent homes and inadequate levels of housing benefit that continue to trap families in homelessness".
"As an immediate relief for struggling families, the Government must unfreeze local housing allowance in the Autumn Budget, so it covers at least the bottom third of local rents.
"There’s only one way to ensure everyone has access to a safe and secure home in the long run, and that’s social rent homes."
Ms MacRae called on the Government to deliver the new social rent homes it has already promised, and ramp up construction to 90,000 a year for 10 years.
There were also 70 households assessed by Walsall Council as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty, down from 102 a year earlier.
Of those households, 24 were headed by a single parent, and 20 were couples with dependent children.
Nationally, 37,610 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty, down 4.5 per cent from the same quarter last year.
John Glenton, executive director at the charity Riverside, which provides accommodation for people affected by homelessness, said the numbers were "greatly concerning," but there were opportunities to better use existing social housing stock.
"It is particularly disappointing to see the number of additional homeless children living in temporary accommodation continuing to increase so rapidly," he said.
"However, the number of homeless households moved out of temporary accommodation into social housing has increased by almost an eighth over the past 12 months compared to the previous year.
"We know moving families out of temporary accommodation and into a social rent home works."
