Nearly 2,000 kids in Bexley will spend Christmas homeless this year, research by a leading charity has found.

There has been a shocking increase in the number of children who will celebrate the festive season in temporary accommodation according to new figures released by Shelter.

This year alone, 1,850 children will be without a permanent home in the borough – compared to 593 five years ago.

Those figures equate to a huge 212 per cent increase since 2013.

Bexley Council said it was doing a lot to deal with the homelessness crisis that is gripping much of London.

“Increasing homelessness is a London-wide issue and a national challenge”, a spokesman said.

“Bexley has one of the lowest levels of street homeless in London, however we are not complacent.

“We have seen an increase in the number of homeless  households in temporary accommodation this year due to lower levels of available permanent affordable social rented housing.

“To help mitigate this we have launched an incentive scheme under our “Rent it Right” umbrella.

“This will increase the supply of private rented properties available in the future to the council to house homeless households. Details of the scheme are available on our website.”

Research carried out by the charity found 131,000 children in Britain are now homeless, the highest number in over a decade.

Greg Beales, director of campaigns at Shelter said there has been an increasing number of homeless kids living in hostels and B&B’s, adding: “Over the last five years, hundreds of thousands of children have known what it’s like to be homeless.

“The impact these young people cannot be overstated. It doesn’t have to be this way. If we act now, we can change tomorrow to make sure every child has somewhere they can call home.”