For a child, two to five years can encompass almost the entirety of primary school, the transition into secondary school, or some of the most formative years of their development. Yet two to five years is now the most common length of stay in temporary accommodation for households with children in England.

The number of children affected is also at a record high. At the end of March 2026, 177,530 children were living in temporary accommodation in England, an increase of 5.2% in a year.

These figures matter not only because of the number of children without a settled home, but because a growing body of evidence demonstrates the consequences temporary accommodation can have for children's health, development and education.

From 1 September 2026, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 introduced a new notification duty in England. When a child is placed in temporary accommodation following a homelessness application made from this date, and the required agreement has been given, local housing authorities must take reasonable steps to notify relevant education providers, GP practices and health visiting services. Notifications should normally take place within 14 days.

“The purpose of the new duty to notify is overtly about data sharing between sectors and the ambition that health, education and housing professionals must work together to ensure best outcomes for children in temporary accommodation. In essence, this is about shifting how temporary accommodation has historically been viewed as a housing issue and committing to the importance of cohesive models of co-production which center the rights of the child. We want to underline that family homelessness is a human rights issue and that the new duty to notify is an important recognition from the government that this issue cannot be solved by siloed systems.”-Dr Mhairi-Jean Ross, Research Associate, King’s College London.

The educational impact of temporary accommodation

The relationship between homelessness and education is complex, and there remain significant gaps in national data. Shared Health Foundation has highlighted that schools have not historically been routinely informed when a pupil enters temporary accommodation, while homelessness itself is not recorded nationally within school data. This makes it difficult to establish the full effect on educational outcomes.

However, the available evidence identifies a number of barriers.

Families placed outside their local area may face substantially longer journeys to school or have to move children to a different school altogether. Longer journeys can increase travel costs, affect attendance and leave children arriving at school tired. Changing schools can also mean losing relationships with friends and trusted teachers, with particular consequences for children with additional or complex needs.

Housing conditions can create further barriers. Overcrowding and a lack of private space can leave children without somewhere suitable to complete homework or study, while families living in accommodation with inadequate cooking or laundry facilities can face additional challenges maintaining everyday school routines.

Shelter's 2026 Homelessness in the Classroom research examines these effects through teachers' experiences. The report estimates that one in 78 schoolchildren in England is homeless and living in temporary accommodation, and documents effects on children's health, wellbeing, education and relationships.

“The new notification duty therefore addresses an important information gap. Knowing that a child is experiencing homelessness can allow schools to respond to the circumstances underlying difficulties with attendance, concentration or participation, rather than viewing them in isolation.”- Katherine Brickell, Professor of Urban Studies at King’s College London.

Government guidance suggests responses including access to breakfast clubs, quiet places to study, spare uniform and PE kit, laundry facilities and support with travel planning.

The impact on children's health

The evidence on health provides an equally important rationale for the new duty.

The 2025 Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee inquiry into children in temporary accommodation reported evidence linking poor-quality accommodation with respiratory illness, skin conditions, gastrointestinal problems, accidents, sleep deprivation, depression and anxiety. Evidence submitted to the Committee also found that 57% of parents surveyed by Shelter said temporary accommodation had negatively affected their child's physical or mental health.

The Government's own guidance accompanying the new notification duty similarly identifies damp and mould, excess cold, overcrowding, safety issues and housing insecurity as factors that can affect children's physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Housing instability can also affect access to healthcare itself. Frequent or sudden changes of address can disrupt health visiting, routine and specialist healthcare, NHS appointment invitations and waiting-list positions. This is particularly important where families are placed outside their local authority area.

The most serious evidence concerns child mortality. Data published in 2026 by the Shared Health Foundation and the APPG for Households in Temporary Accommodation found that between April 2019 and March 2025, 104 children died where temporary accommodation was identified as a contributing factor to their vulnerability, ill-health or death. Of these, 76 were under one year old.

These figures do not mean that temporary accommodation was the sole cause of those deaths. They do, however, demonstrate why housing circumstances are relevant information for the health professionals responsible for supporting a child.

Better information-sharing is an important step

The new notification duty responds to a longstanding disconnect between housing, health and education services.

Its significance is relatively simple: if schools and healthcare providers know that a child's housing circumstances have changed, they are better placed to identify additional needs and maintain continuity of support.

But notification cannot address the underlying conditions creating those needs.

A breakfast club can support a child travelling a long distance to school, but it cannot shorten the journey. Access to a quiet room can provide somewhere to complete homework, but it cannot address overcrowding at home. Better information-sharing between health services can help maintain continuity of care, but it cannot provide housing stability.

This distinction becomes particularly important when temporary accommodation lasts for years rather than months. The longer a child remains without a settled home, the greater the risk that disruption to education, healthcare and everyday routines becomes a sustained feature of childhood rather than a temporary experience.

At Greater Change, we see how relatively small financial barriers can sometimes prevent families from avoiding homelessness, moving out of temporary accommodation or sustaining a new home. Costs such as a rent deposit, essential furniture or moving expenses can become barriers even where other housing and support services are already in place.

The notification duty is therefore a welcome recognition of the wider consequences of temporary accommodation. Its implementation should help health and education services respond more effectively to children experiencing homelessness.

But ultimately, reducing the impact of temporary accommodation on children's health and education also means reducing the number of children who experience it, and the length of time they spend there.

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