A HIDDEN population of children living in temporary accommodation has been found in a damning official report today, with numbers nearly twice as high as previously thought.

New data published by the government showed there are nearly 6,000 children living in council-run temporary accommodation on top of the 6,400 already known to be in B&Bs.

Official Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government numbers have not previously accounted for these children living in council-run temporary housing, as homelessness legislation only requires recording those living in private accommodation.

It also showed that 90 per cent of young people in this type of accommodation with “unsuitable” shared bathrooms and kitchens in June 2025 had been living there for more than six weeks.

In similar private accommodation, 65 per cent of children have stayed over the six-week legal limit.

The new data has been published following a request from the Children’s Commissioner for England, which itself was made in reaction to an investigation from Inside Housing from 2024.

That investigation found that by December 2023, there were at least 1,100 households with children in B&B-style accommodation.

Dame Rachel de Souza has since welcomed the government’s commitment to end the usage of B&B accommodation over six weeks, but called council-run accommodation a “concerning loophole.”

She said: “No child should be living somewhere without a kitchen or bathroom for an extended period of time, regardless of who owns it.

“Though it sounds acceptable, even pleasant, the reality for families living in them is very far from that.

“Sharing toilets, bathrooms and kitchens with strangers — strangers who themselves may be very vulnerable — poses a significant, often unacceptable, risk to children.”

She called for the government to amend the definition of B&B accommodation and change its target to end the use of all forms of shared accommodation for longer than six weeks.

End Child Poverty Coalition chair Sophie Livingstone told the Star: “We know placing families, who are often living in poverty, in temporary accommodation like B&Bs impacts children’s health, development and educational outcomes — the government’s own child poverty strategy says as much.

“Yet too many children are still spending their earliest months sharing kitchens and bathrooms with strangers, often with not enough space to sleep or play.

“Every child deserves the best start in life — a childhood filled with joy, stability and space to grow, not confined to unsuitable accommodation.”