MORE than 700 people have died in temporary accommodation in London over the past three years, freedom of information (FOI) requests revealed today.

The all-party parliamentary group for households in temporary accommodation’s Shared Health Foundation (SHF) branded the deaths a “damning reflection on our society.”

A total of 741 people have died in council-provided provisional housing as they waited for long-term homes.

FOI data collected by Jack Shaw and published by Inside Housing did not explain exactly how the deaths occurred and whether the accommodation had something to do with it.

But previous reporting found temporary housing was a contributing factor in the unexpected deaths of 74 children between 2019 and 2024, with the SHF calling them “preventable and fixable.”

Researchers also expected the actual number of deaths to be higher due to missing information from Ealing council, which said it did not have information on the issue, and other local authorities saying their data was “not in a reportable format.”

An SHF spokesperson said of the new findings: “This new data should shock us all. Over 700 deaths in temporary accommodation over three years in our capital, many of them children, is a damning reflection on our society.

“One death is too many, 700 is an absolute scandal. The government should prioritise improving the standards and support offered for all those living in temporary accommodation.

“It should be on the front pages every day, in every cabinet meeting and plastered all over Whitehall until the death toll reaches zero, because unless we have a true cross-department, cross-party consensus on this, we will see the numbers continue to rise.”

For the first time last month, a study found links between expecting mothers living in temporary accommodation and stillbirths.

The same report also said this type of housing was listed as a contributing factor in the deaths of 104 children over a period of six years.

Last month, MPs joined in calls for increased regulation surrounding provisional housing, including regulations forcing councils to inspect properties before sending families to live there.

A London Councils spokesperson said local authorities were “working hard to support homeless residents” and have “consistently called for further policy action at a national level to boost the availability of affordable housing and to help residents into permanent housing as quickly as possible.”

A spokesperson for the mayor said: “Any death as a result of the housing and homelessness crisis is a tragedy.”