Councils are putting homeless children at serious health and safeguarding risk by housing them in unsuitable temporary accommodation, an inquiry by MPs has found.

MPs said a “crisis in temporary accommodation” in England has left a record 164,000 children without a permanent home. The inquiry found many are living in “appalling conditions”, with serious effects on their health and education.

Florence Eshalomi, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, told the BBC that evidence linking 74 child deaths to temporary housing “should shock all of us”.

MPs urged ministers to build more affordable homes and take urgent action to support families in temporary housing. They recommended requiring councils to ensure accommodation is safe, and called for stronger powers for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

A government spokesperson described the findings as shocking, adding that the government is taking “urgent action to fix the broken system we inherited”, including nearly £1 billion in funding for homelessness services this year.