The company, better known for portable classrooms and site offices, is hoping to move into the housing sector after entering into talks with 11 councils, eight housing associations, and several charities.

The move comes amid record levels of homelessness and spiralling council spending on emergency accommodation. Councils across England are spending billions placing families in hotels, hostels, and B&Bs, often miles from home.

“The numbers just keep climbing and it’s alarming,” Dan Ibbetson, Portakabin’s chief executive, told The Times. “Our solution is a stepping stone — significantly cheaper and a much better social outcome than current hostels.”

The company estimates its modular homes could halve the £2.8 billion currently spent on emergency accommodation in England between April 2024 and March 2025.

Each prefabricated home can be built in as little as three days at Portakabin’s York factory and will include private bathrooms and kitchens, with one- to three-bedroom layouts available. Councils will place the homes on disused brownfield land and rent them at around £14 per person per night, compared with as much as £90 for hotel rooms.

Talks are ongoing with several authorities, including Croydon, where over 3,500 households are in temporary accommodation. A council spokesperson said they were “exploring modular options” but no decisions had yet been made.

Portakabin is also open to supplying units for asylum accommodation, though both the company and the Home Office downplay any formal discussions.

Across England, more than 326,000 people, including 169,000 children, are now in temporary accommodation, a 12% rise in a year and the highest figure since records began. In London, that’s one in every fifty residents.