London boroughs are warning of housing pressures in the capital reaching ‘new extremes’ as new data has revealed a surge in the number of landlords withdrawing their properties from use as temporary accommodation for homeless households.

A London Councils survey reveals that between September 2022 and April 2023, 15 boroughs reported receiving a Notice to Quit (a legal notice requesting the return of a property) from landlords for 3,531 properties in use as temporary accommodation.

This represents a 120% increase on the 1,601 notices received over the same period in 2021-22 and is equivalent to a loss of 6% of London’s total temporary accommodation stock.

London Councils now estimate that there are almost 170,000 people in London that are homeless and in temporary accommodation. This equates to one in 50 Londoners overall and includes one in 23 children in the capital, or around 83,500 children.

The number of households entitled to homelessness support from a London borough (i.e., owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty) increased 15.2% between April 2022 and April 2023.

There has also been a dramatic 781% increase in homeless families placed in bed and breakfast accommodation beyond the legal six-week limit. This equates to 1,287 London families stuck in unsuitable B&B accommodation in April 2023 compared to 146 the same month last year.