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The Government was forced today to send a taskforce to deal with the Grenfell fire fallout after it emerged just three families out of 158 have been found a new home.

Prime Minister Theresa May had originally promised "people will be rehoused within three weeks" - with the deadline falling today.

But ministers later clarified they would be "offered" housing by the deadline. And today most survivors remain in hotels and B&Bs.

Tory housing minister Alok Sharma today said 139 households had received offers of accommodation, but only 14 of those offers had been accepted. And just three of those families so far have moved into their temporary homes.

Mr Sharma told MPs: "I expect this number to increase but we have to respect the pace at which the families want to move."

Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said the government's effort had been "off the pace at each stage".

He said: "A hotel room is no home. Temporary housing is no place to rebuild shattered lives."

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: AFP)

Mr Healey added: "Why have so few families been successful in getting matched with fresh accommodation?"

Families had been offered homes with too few bedrooms, some in a tower block, and others with "bizarre conditions" including no overnight stay for family and friends, Mr Healey said.

Newly-elected Kensington Labour MP Emma Dent Coad told MPs some fo the families had been offered “totally unsuitable accommodation.”

She said one survivor was offered home in a “poorly maintained and rat-infested estate” due to be demolished.

“For this traumatised family who escaped with their lives while rescuing their neighbours, what kind of peace and stability could they possibly find in this frankly shameful offer, and I would really like to know who considered that kind of accommodation to be suitable?” she said.

Mr Sharma insisted "every family that is ready to talk to the housing team" had received an offer - but some are still in hospirtal.

"These families have been through unimaginable trauma and we need to go at a pace they want to go at," he said.

Campaigners and residents claim little headway has been made, with some survivors reportedly being offered new accommodation with rent up to triple the amount they paid before.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Many are said to have been offered properties that are either out of the borough, too expensive or on a one-year contract.

One resident reported being shown a two-bed property when they required a three-bed, others had been offered places in high-rises, and another survivor was said to have been offered permanent accommodation with the caveat that no guests could stay overnight.

The Grenfell Response Team (GRT) said every household that wanted to move from emergency accommodation had been made offers in Kensington and Chelsea or neighbouring boroughs, while 19 families were contacted and had either refused assistance or were abroad.

This was for a range of reasons, including some who were looking after relatives in hospital, and the response team was "ready to provide them with accommodation when they were ready".

(Image: PA)

GRT has said rent will be suspended for one year and thereafter will be of a "similar scale to a council house social rent", while survivors should feel under no pressure to take up the first offers.

Pilgrim Tucker, a campaigner working with Grenfell Tower families, told the Press Association: "Their concern is they are not being talked to properly, just being presented with an offer.

"People are being texted saying 'here is your offer, it is rent free for a year and then it is £400 a week' - that is triple what they were paying before."

She said the example of tripled rent had come from one specific survivor from the tower. It is not clear how many others had been offered similar deals.

(Image: AFP)

Jamal Williams, a resident from a block nearby which has also been evacuated, said he had spoken to survivors being offered homes in different boroughs.

"I spoke to one woman who has been offered a place in Harlesden.

"The concern really is that residents are not happy about the tenancy agreements - it is not clear enough.

"There have been some that are being offered ones where they will be put for a year.

"The concern is what it will be afterwards. I think people are looking for a lifetime tenancy arrangement."

A spokesman for the North Kensington Law Centre called on the Government to ensure messages were being communicated clearly on the ground to prevent survivors experiencing "additional stress".

(Image: AFP)

He said: "Three weeks on from the Grenfell Fire disaster, many of our clients are still staying in short-term, temporary accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs.

"The Government have made promises about putting the survivors in temporary and permanent housing, which is welcome.

"However, there are unanswered questions about whether those residents will have to pay more rent than they did previously, and whether their new tenancies, both temporary and permanent, will guarantee them the same rights and protections they had before."

Most of the 160 households evacuated from the "finger blocks" surrounding the tower - Testerton Walk, Hurstway Walk and Barandon Walk - are still in emergency accommodation, a Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said.

A number of households had gone back to their homes, he said, while some families were returning in the day to cook meals and spending the nights in hotels.

Repair work on a broken boiler affecting the properties was due to be completed by Wednesday, he added.

(Image: EPA)

It comes as the Lord Chancellor stepped in to defend the chairman of the public inquiry into the disaster, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, amid political pressure for him to quit.

David Lidington said he had "complete confidence" in the retired judge, after shadow fire minister Chris Williamson and Labour MP Emma Dent Coad called for him to step down amid concerns from survivors.

It was also revealed that cladding from 190 high-rise buildings in 51 local authority areas have failed combustibility tests conducted by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

Every sample sent in has been found to be combustible, continuing the 100% failure rate, the DCLG said.

Buildings at three NHS trusts in England - North Middlesex University Hospitals, King's College Hospital and Sheffield Children's NHS Trusts - have also failed the tests, health officials said.