Almost two thirds of England's homeless families live in London

The children's charity says more housing is needed instead of subsidised high rents in the private sector.

This comes as charity figures show the number of homeless families in London has doubled in the last nine years.

The government says it is committed to building more social housing and getting people out of temporary homes.

John Reacroft, the report's author, said: "It seems shocking that in 2006, in one of the richest cities, in one of the richest countries in the world, it is impossible to provide decent, secure and affordable accommodation for all the children who live here."

Children can certainly not flourish if they are constantly moving from one sort of temporary accommodation to another Martin Narey, Barnardo's chief executive

Figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister show nearly 65% of homeless families in England live in London.

One mother-of-three, who has not been named, told the charity every day she would have to revisit a homeless person's unit for a letter entitling her to stay another night in a bed and breakfast.

"The B&B was a crack house. There were 10 other rooms and in the next room to us a boy and girl were arguing and she was being slapped and punched," she said.

Martin Narey, Barnardo's chief executive, said: "No family can survive and children can certainly not flourish if they are constantly moving from one sort of temporary accommodation to another."