Last week came the glum news that the number of households living in temporary accommodation has increased by nearly two thirds since the start of the decade. Increasingly, the use of the word ‘temporary' is a misnomer for many of those families – in the second quarter of last year more than 10% of the households in London in such accommodation had been there for five years or longer.

On any one night in London there is a population of some 50,000 households being housed temporarily. Despite the best efforts of councils, no-one would claim that such accommodation, particularly over a prolonged period, is not going to impact adversely on people's lives and their overall health and well being.