Following the Child Poverty Strategy's announcements earlier this week, Citizens UK welcomes the government’s new National Plan to End Homelessness and its commitment to ensuring that everyone has access to a safe, decent and secure home.

Citizens UK particularly welcomes the clear time frame to eliminate the unlawful use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation beyond the six-week legal limit for families by the end of this parliament in 2029, something our national housing and homelessness campaign has highlighted as a driver of child homelessness and instability. But Citizens UK leaders believe complying with the law should already be the minimum standard, and the government can go further.

The Children’s Commissioner, Rachel de Souza, is supportive of the idea of making B&B use for families with children a ‘never event’. Our Peterborough Citizens Alliance, working with Peterborough City Council, have shown that it is possible to end the use of B&B for families with children. Minister for Homelessness Alison McGovern’s commitment that no newborn babies will be discharged from hospital into B&B accommodation is an important step in this direction.

We also welcome the ​government's intention that the Decent Homes Standard should apply to temporary accommodation wherever possible, and the plan to consult on the approach to applying Awaab’s Law to temporary accommodation. ​​Our members have been calling for the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law to apply to temporary accommodation.​​​​ ​​

Citizens UK leaders have been calling for an end to long-term temporary accommodation for children, repair and upgrade of existing homes, and more social and genuinely affordable housing, alongside stronger local powers to tackle rogue landlords. These demands, raised through local listening campaigns and at national Citizens UK assemblies, are directly reflected in the strategy’s emphasis on prevention, improvements to the quality of temporary accommodation, and expansion of housing supply.

We look forward to working with national and local government, mayors and councils to turn these commitments into concrete change in neighbourhoods across the country. Community leaders will continue to hold decision-makers to account for delivering on the six-week B&B limit, speeding up the delivery of the 5,000 new homes, and ensuring that every child grows up in a safe, stable, and healthy home.​