Details

FromIn January 2025, MHCLG islaunched launching the Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots, backed by £5 million in overall funding over 2025/26 to work with 20 local authorities with the highest use of bed & breakfast (B&B) accommodation for homeless families, to test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives to reduce the use of B&Bs.

Local authorities were selected based on the number of families in B&B for over 6 weeks, using the latest homelessness data from June 2024. Funding has been allocated in bands and local authorities with the highest number of families in B&B for over 6 weeks will receive higher amounts of funding.

In February 2025, MHCLG announced additional funding of £3 million to be provided in 2024/25 to the Pilot areas for occupancy audits, to help establish a baseline and to identify any voids, fraud, or irregular arrangements, which could free up units for households in the worst forms of temporary accommodation. This takes the total funding for the Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots to £8 million.

In December 2025, MHCLG announced further additional funding of £2.5 million to be provided in 2025/26. Given the positive impact of occupancy audits undertaken by Pilot local authorities, £2.25 million will fund occupancy audits in a further 15 local authorities who have 10 or more families in B&B accommodation for over 6 weeks, using the latest homelessness data from June 2025. These will consider suitability for the households, including identifying any property issues and broader support needs. Given significantly high use of B&B (shown in the latest homelessness data from June 2025), MHCLG has also provided an additional sum of £250,000 to Birmingham City Council. This will be used to address crucial elements of their Bed and Breakfast Elimination Plan.

Details on how this funding is distributed andis selected are set out in the abovedownloadable document.document on this page.