Quietly yet relentlessly, the number of households initially assessed as threatened with homelessness or homeless increased by more than 10% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter.

According to chief executive of Shelter Polly Neate, with the housing crisis ‘out of the spotlight' , families are trapped in B&Bs and shipping containers  - and young people are feeling the ‘damaging effects of growing up in a housing emergency'.