The number of families with children living in emergency B&Bs in England rose by 45% in the 12 months to the end of September, the highest level in 12 years, official figures show.

A total of 3,000 households with children were in bed and breakfast-style accommodation on 30 September 2015, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said. Of these, just under a third had been in that kind of accommodation for more than six weeks.

The figure is the highest since the summer of 2003 and underlines how councils are struggling to find suitable lodgings for homeless families.

The DCLG said the main reason for the loss of a settled home was the end of a private tenancy and that it had become an increasingly frequent cause in the past six years as the number of tenants in private rented homes had risen.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/17/homeless-families-bed-and-breakfast-england-dclg