Skip to main content
Housing crisis hits councils with £1bn bill
A man walks by a tent of a homeless person near the Houses of Parliament

COUNCILS spent more than £1 billion on temporary accommodation for homeless households in just one year, government figures revealed today.

The spending, between April 2018 and March this year, was partly fuelled by a huge increase in households being placed bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

The overall cost of temporary housing has increased by a staggering 78 per cent over the last five years.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
John Wheatley. Photo: wellcomeimages.org/CC
Features / 22 November 2025
22 November 2025

Building is the solution for much of our housing crisis – and will also help to address poverty, ill health, and even anti-social behaviour and alienation, writes KENNY MacASKILL

Various For Sale, Sold and Let By estate agent signs juxtaposed next to a Dreams store in Clapham, London
Class / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON