Time spent in city temporary accommodation triples

The average length of time homeless households spend in temporary accommodation in a city has nearly tripled in five years.

In response to a freedom of information (FOI) request, Sunderland City Council revealed households spent about 32 days on average in temporary accommodation in 2024, compared with just 11.7 days in 2020.

Shelter North East official Tracey Guy said: "Decades of chronic underinvestment in genuinely affordable social rent homes has left our housing system on its knees."

The local authority said how long households spent in temporary accommodation was influenced by "many factors".

The 32 days is also a jump on 2023 figures, which saw people living in such arrangements for 22.5 days on average.

Latest government figures also reveal that more households are spending time in temporary accommodation in the city.

In December 2024, 150 households were housed in temporary accommodation, including 118 children.

This compares with just 90 households, including 44 children, for December 2023, and 55 households, including 30 children, in December 2022.

Ms Guy said Sunderland had seen the number of children growing up homeless in temporary accommodation "skyrocket" over the past five years.

She said their frontline services in the city regularly heard from families in temporary accommodation who lacked the space to play or do their homework.

"The longer they're trapped in this limbo, the more harm is done to their health, education, and chance at a normal childhood," she said.

Dr Lucy Doyle, from charity Centrepoint, said the lack of social housing and affordable private housing meant people were stuck in temporary accommodation for longer than they should be.

"We need the government to commit to building at least 90,000 social homes a year," she said.

Sunderland City Council said it had increased its work to provide "appropriate advice and support" to support those at risk of homelessness.

A spokesperson said: "How long households spend in temporary accommodation is influenced by many factors, such as family size and family make up, the availability of suitable accommodation [and] the client's support needs."

It said its housing options team was available to support those in need.

The government has said it is taking "urgent action to fix the broken system we inherited, investing nearly £1bn in homelessness services this year to help families trapped in temporary accommodation".

They said: "Alongside this, we are developing a long-term strategy to tackle homelessness, driving up housing standards and delivering the biggest boost in social and affordable homes in a generation."

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