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Temporary accommodation: what it means

Housing that councils provide to homeless households while they wait for a settled home, such as hostels, bed and breakfasts or leased flats.

Temporary accommodation is housing arranged by a council for a homeless household while their case is assessed or while they wait for a settled home. It includes hostels, bed and breakfast hotels, nightly paid rooms, and private homes leased by the council. In England, MHCLG publishes quarterly counts of households in temporary accommodation, including how many children they contain.

Why it matters when checking a claim

  • Households, people or children? The headline is usually households; the number of people, and of children, is much larger.
  • A snapshot. Figures are a count on the last day of the quarter, not the number placed over a year.
  • Not rough sleeping. People in temporary accommodation are homeless under the law but have a roof; rough sleeping is counted separately.
  • Each nation counts separately under different laws.

See how many households are in temporary accommodation and how many people are homeless.

Also searched as: TA, temporary accommodation meaning, B&B homeless, temporary housing council

Official definitions: MHCLG: Homelessness statistics · MHCLG: Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities

Questions that use this term

Related terms

  • Main housing duty: The legal duty on an English council to secure accommodation for a homeless household that is eligible, in priority need and not intentionally homeless.
  • Social rent: Rented homes owned by councils or housing associations, with rents set using a government formula and usually well below market rents.
  • Headcount: A count of individual people, each counted once regardless of how many hours they work or how many posts they hold.

More housing, energy and the environment terms: Affordable housing · Social rent · Affordable rent · Main housing duty · Net additional dwellings · Housing starts and completions · Net zero · Carbon budget · Territorial and consumption emissions · Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) · Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE).