Covid has made Britains desperate housing crisis worse, with the pandemic fuelling a sharp rise in the number of homeless people living in temporary accommodation, HuffPost UK can reveal.

Our investigation has identified the shocking rate at which homelessness increased in the early months of the virus outbreak and looks set to spiral further as the chaos and economic hardship inflicted by coronavirus continues to affect families across the country.

We can exclusively reveal:

• The number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation in England (98,300) is now at its highest level since 2005 and includes 62,700 families with children.
  
• The total figure soared by 6,110 households or 7% in just three months between March and June this year, according to government figures.
• The government says this is largely due to the national drive to move rough sleepers off the streets during the first wave of the pandemic, but homeless charities fear the upward trend will continue as more families are at risk of losing their homes now the governments Covid-19 amnesty on evictions has been lifted.
  
• The number of private renters in arrears reached 442,000 adults in July double the same period last year, according to the charity Shelter.
  
• Meanwhile, the government has still failed to fund 60,000 shovel-ready schemes to build houses in the capital, despite asking councils for details of them at the height of the pandemic.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: People should be as shocked by the housing situation in the UK as they are by the healthcare system in America. There is no safety net for people and thats why people are forced to live in these vulnerable circumstances and that is a choice we are making.