Gove: I regret the record number of children living in temporary housing
MICHAEL GOVE has said he has “regret” for the fact that a record number of children are living in temporary accommodation.
The Housing Secretary blamed not enough houses being delivered, admitting that “for years now we have not been building enough homes”.
Figures published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last month showed that the number of children living in temporary accommodation had hit a record high.
There were 145,800 children in temporary accommodation in December 2023 – more than double the 70,090 in the first quarter of 2012.
On the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Gove said: “I can’t look at those figures with anything other than regret.
“But there are several interlocking issues and the biggest issue overall is that whether it’s in the private rented sector, the socially-rented sector or homes to buy, we still need to increase the supply of homes now.
“I think that the Government has done a huge amount, you know, we will have built a million homes in this Parliament, but we need to do even better in the future.”
Mr Gove blamed the “increasing pressure on housing supply”, saying: “The number of people who come to this country, the number of families that have grown have meant that for years now we have not been building enough homes.”
When it was put to him that the Government had missed the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year, he said: “We’ve missed the 300,000 target, but we’ve hit the one million over the course of a Parliament target.”
With his Renters (Reform) Bill currently passing through Parliament, he was also asked about the delay to plans to scrap so-called “no fault” section 21 evictions.
The Government wants to delay the ban until the courts are assessed as having the capacity to deal with new cases.
Mr Gove said: “I hope that the Bill that will ensure that we no longer have section 21 will receive Royal Assent, in other words, will be done and dusted by the summer.
“Then it will be, I hope, a matter of months after that that we will end section 21 for new tenants, and then shortly after that we will be in a position to end section 21 altogether.”