A housing provider says it wants to work with councils across England to help deliver the government’s pledge to end rough sleeping – and is calling for £billions spent on emergency hotels and B&Bs to be invested instead in building modular homes on unused council land.

Places for People (PfP) says England’s £2.8billion annual temporary accommodation bill could be used far more effectively if it was used to deliver quality purpose-built modular homes – a move that it claims could save hundreds of millions in the long-term while helping families escape months or even years in unsuitable, cramped emergency accommodation.

Following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s pledge to end rough sleeping, PfP is offering to work with councils to see this approach, which it has already trialled in Bristol, rolled-out nationally.

According to the latest figures, more than 134,000 households in England are currently living in temporary accommodation – including 176,000 children – which for many means living in cramped hotel rooms, hostels or B&Bs, regularly moving, with shared or zero access to cooking and laundry facilities and no permanent address.

At the same time, according to the Local Government Association, English councils are under mounting financial pressure with the £2.8 billion they spend on temporary accommodation projected to rise to £4 billion by the end of the decade.

Much of that money (almost £850 million per year) was spent on expensive emergency B&Bs and hostel stays. For mother-of-three Teri Jackson, 38, from Bristol, this became her life.

She currently lives in a one-bed emergency accommodation flat with her two sons, aged 20 and 11, while waiting for social housing.

Despite limited space, it’s an improvement. In January 2024, she left a privately rented home she describes as “uninhabitable” and was placed in emergency accommodation beginning a period of crippling instability which saw them spend over seven months in hotels, moving frequently.

Teri said: “For seven months I had no fixed address and me and my sons were just living on top of each other. There was nowhere I could cook or wash clothes and we ate takeaways every night. It was unhealthy and so expensive.

“For the last seven weeks, I was moved every Monday. I wouldn’t know where we were going until that morning. I had to pack everything on Sunday, wait, then move.

“My son missed school every Monday for seven weeks, and I had to take time off work. At one point we were placed in Bath – a 90-minute round trip to school.

“It felt like I didn’t exist – I was just surviving for my children.”

Teri says she recalls once seeing a £2,900 invoice intended for the local council for a three-week hotel stay, despite her not even having somewhere to cook for her children or wash their clothes.

PfP believes using that money to develop modular housing offers a practical and cheaper alternative.

Built off-site and with potential to be installed in as little as 12 months, modular homes meet the same quality and environmental standards as traditional builds, last for at least 60 years, and the construction process can be 30-50% faster.

PfP says that, crucially, they can be installed on small or underused plots of land, including disused car parks and other vacant council-owned sites that might otherwise sit idle.

According to PfP, councils in England could rapidly deliver affordable, quality homes for thousands of families reliant on temporary accommodation by bringing underused public land into use and redirecting temporary accommodation funding into building modular housing and away from costly hotels and B&Bs.

The social landlord wants to work with councils to scale this approach up nationally to tackle homelessness, adding that redirecting even a fraction of the current temporary accommodation budget could deliver thousands of homes while saving councils hundreds of millions of pounds over time

Working with Bristol City Council, PfP has delivered 20 modular homes for people at risk of homelessness to date, with more nearing completion.

Based on its work to date in Bristol, the housing association calculates that each modular home could save councils up to £24,540 on rents per person every year where an individual or family is moved from emergency hotel/B&B accommodation. PfP sets rents at costs rather than for profit. *

A development of 10 homes, for example, could save around £245,000 annually, while providing families with self-contained accommodation, including private bedrooms, kitchens and living spaces.

At Fortfield Road in Bristol, a new scheme of two-bed modular homes for vulnerable families is nearing completion. The homes, constructed by PfP’s own modular specialist Modularwise, will offer stability for up to two years, alongside tailored support to help residents move into permanent housing, the social landlord says.

Teri and her sons, currently in a one-bed emergency accommodation flat managed by PfP, have been offered a place to live there while they wait to secure a social home.

Teri said: “When I moved into my current place, it felt amazing because we could cook, wash, and have privacy. But it’s still one bedroom.

“Both my children have additional needs, and the space just doesn’t work. This modular home will change everything. Just having space – somewhere we can properly live – would mean the world while we wait for a permanent home.”

In addition to a private space and an own front door, PfP claims such schemes also integrate support services, connecting residents with healthcare, employment and other resources – something rarely possible in temporary accommodation. This includes a pathway into more permanent accommodation.

Larry Gold, CEO for Housing and Communities at PfP, said: “Temporary accommodation has become a national crisis, with hundreds of thousands of families – including 176,000 children – growing up in hotel rooms and B&Bs without the stability or space they need to thrive.

“There is a clear opportunity and urgent need to do things differently and we want to use our experience to help Government and councils end the homelessness and temporary accommodation crisis.

“By investing in modular housing, we can not only reduce the enormous costs associated with temporary accommodation, but far more importantly provide people with the safe, secure homes they deserve.

“We must move beyond outdated perceptions of modular as a stopgap. These are high-quality, long-lasting homes that can play a central role in tackling both the immediate pressures of homelessness and the long-term housing shortage.

“We are here and ready to work with government and councils to do this. The funding is already there; we need to use it more effectively – supported by speeding up the planning process and unlocking unused public land.

“Modular housing gives us a practical way to act now due to quick delivery – moving families out of unsuitable accommodation and into homes where they can rebuild their lives, with the right support alongside them. We are here and ready to help this national rollout.”

PfP is calling for:

• Leadership: the social landlord wants to work with councils across the country to prioritise development of modular housing for temporary/emergency accommodation, by unlocking unused land and redirecting money spent on hotels and B&Bs
• Planning and regulation: faster planning processes, including the introduction of fast-track approvals for modular developments; review of regulation to enable fast delivery

• Skills: investment in skills and training to grow the modular construction workforce
• Funding: reform of funding models to prioritise modern methods of construction in temporary accommodation provision.