Oldham family sent 300 miles away 'for some bizarre reason' as crisis uncovered (2025)

A crisis in temporary accommodation in England has left record numbers of children without a permanent home, a report has found

The government has been urged to take action after MPs were told that homeless families are being 'dumped' in Manchester.

A parliamentary inquiry into children living in temporary accommodation heard last year that families from London are being moved up North due to costs. However, in some cases, families from Greater Manchester are being sent down South, a local charity said - including a family from Oldham sent 300 miles away.

The report by a cross-party group of MPs on England's homeless children has now been published with a series of recommendations.

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee found that the crisis in temporary accommodation has left record numbers of children without a permanent home and many are living in 'appalling conditions', affecting their health and education.

It comes as official data shows the state of some temporary housing played a role in the deaths of 74 children in the last five years.

The committee said it is 'appalling' that many councils do not conduct checks and concluded that they must be required to regularly inspect temporary accommodation to prevent dangerous conditions which are contributing to more than one child death a month.

The report also recommends that the government should consider introducing a limit on the distance of all out-of-area placements and urges the government to improve the quality of data collected, including how far homeless families are being moved away.

It comes after a charity supporting homeless families in Greater Manchester gave evidence at the Commons inquiry last November.

Dr Laura Neilson, who is the CEO of the Shared Health Foundation, told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee that, from the perspective of families affected, they are 'dumped with very few possessions somewhere they've never been before'.

She said: "I've seen families arriving in North Manchester from Camden - just sent up, five kids.

"I've seen families arrive up North from all over the country. I know that, as an area, we've also sent families. We had one family who were homeless in Oldham and got sent to Hastings for some bizarre reason.

"The distances are huge. But we don't have a national picture because we don't collect the data."

The Manchester Evening News has been reporting extensively on hidden homelessness which sees families stuck in temporary accommodation for years.

In September, we revealed that one in every 33 children in Manchester are without a permanent home.

Earlier in 2024, councillors in the London said that homeless families were being sent to Manchester in what was likened to a ‘Second World War billeting operation’.

The parliamentary inquiry was told that London is now facing 'the brunt' of the national housing crisis.

Dr Neilson, who is also a practising A&E doctor, spoke of a 'hierarchy of money' which sees homeless families moved from more expensive areas to less expensive areas and told MPs that this trend seen in the capital is happening in Greater Manchester too.

The committee was also told that local authorities in Greater Manchester do place homeless families outside of their home borough, but an agreement between councils means that residents requiring temporary accommodation are not placed outside the city-region.

According to the report, local authorities in Greater Manchester spend over £75m per year on temporary accommodation rents.

The government says it is investing nearly £1bn in homelessness services this year to tackle the crisis in temporary accommodation.

This includes a new programme of Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots which will give 20 local authorities with some of the highest levels of B&B use for temporary accommodation, including Oldham, a share of £8m to try new approaches to tackle the issue.

A government spokesperson said: “These findings are shocking and that is why we are taking urgent action to fix the broken system we inherited, investing nearly £1 billion in homelessness services this year to help families trapped in temporary accommodation.

“Alongside this, we are developing a long-term strategy to tackle homelessness, driving up housing standards and delivering the biggest boost in social and affordable homes in a generation.”

The government is set to publish its homelessness strategy later this year.