This article was orginally published in Labour List.

Today’s newly released government statistics confirm a national scandal: more people than ever are trapped in temporary accommodation. In England there are now over 127,890  households without a permanent home — a record high, and a damning reflection of years of policy failure. That includes 165,510 children. If all of those children lived in one place, it would outsize towns like Blackpool, Huddersfield, or Oxford.

This isn’t just a housing crisis. It’s a human rights crisis. It’s a crisis of political will.

The sheer scale of temporary accommodation use — often for months, sometimes years — exposes the erosion of the right to adequate housing in the UK. Behind each figure is a story: families crammed into one-room B&Bs, children forced to change schools repeatedly, survivors of domestic abuse housed far from support networks, and individuals unable to rebuild their lives while stuck in limbo.

These numbers should be a wake-up call to all politicians — but especially to Labour, the party that was established to stand up for dignity and justice. If Labour wants to lead a government rooted in fairness and decency, it must confront this crisis head-on and with urgency.

What’s more, this isn’t just a domestic issue. Last month, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) singled out the UK’s worsening housing situation while reviewing the UK’s domestic human rights record. For the first time, the UN explicitly mentioned temporary accommodation, criticising the fact so many currently have to live in substandard conditions or inadequate temporary accommodation for extended periods.

The UK is failing to meet its international human rights obligations.

Importantly, today’s numbers are the first homelessness statistics to be released covering a period in which the new Labour administration have been in power. The era of blaming the Tories is over. The public will now be looking to Labour to not just express concern — but to deliver. The responsibility to act, to turn the tide on homelessness, and to rebuild a broken housing system, now lies squarely with this government.

Labour has made promising commitments: pledging to build 1.5 million new homes, reform planning, and strengthen renters’ rights. But none of this will be enough unless we tackle the issue of temporary accommodation head-on and invest in truly affordable, secure social housing at scale. That means giving councils the funding and powers they need to house people with dignity and urgency.

Labour must also ground its housing policy in human rights. A future where everyone has a safe and secure home is not just desirable — it’s a legal and moral imperative. This includes embedding the right to adequate housing into UK law, which would ensure  accountability for poor housing conditions, and protect people from being trapped indefinitely in temporary placements that harm their wellbeing and violate their rights.

We cannot continue managing homelessness. We must end it.

Labour should commit to making the right to adequate housing a legal reality, not just a moral one. It should put human rights at the heart of housing policy — because no one in this country should be spending their childhood, their recovery, or their last years in a temporary bedsit with no hope of a home.

The statistics released today are shocking — but they are not surprising. What happens next will show whether we are truly ready to build a country where everyone has a right to safe, secure place to call home.

Background image by Nikita Abuya.