The number of households in temporary accommodation totalled 79,880 at the end of March this year, compared to 77,220 in March 2017, with London accounting for two thirds of the total.

The overall UK figure was up 66 per cent on the low of 48,010 at the end of December 2010. One bright spark in the figures was that the number of families registered as statutorily homeless fell six per cent to 13,740 in the three months to 31 March 2018, compared to the same period last year.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter said,

“It’s clear that our country is in the firm grip of a housing crisis as these figures starkly show, with older people and single parents both bearing the brunt.”