The RIBA has repeated its call for the government to scrap permitted development rights after a report by the children’s commissioner said many vulnerable children were being housed in cramped homes converted from office blocks.

The commissioner’s report, Bleak Houses, suggested there were as many as 210,000 children living in temporary accommodation.

The report highlighted the practice of converting office blocks via permitted development rights (PDR) into residential properties, some of which it said “do not come close to meeting national space standards”.

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