Councils in twelve of the UK's biggest cities have spent nearly £2bn housing families in temporary accommodation over the past four years, investigators have reported.

Figures collected by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism show local authorities covering the twelve largest cities spent £464m on bed and breakfast style accommodation for families they were unable to properly house, a 5.7% increase on the previous year.  The total figure spent since 2009 amounts to £1.88bn.