Occupants in temporary shelters want at heart to be housed (7)
I believe the answer is:
tenants
'occupants' is the definition.
(tenant is a kind of occupant)
'temporary shelters want at heart to be housed' is the wordplay.
'temporary shelters' becomes 'tents' (a tent is put up for a short time only).
'at heart' says to take the centre.
'to be housed' indicates putting letters inside.
The central letters of 'want' are 'an'.
'tents' placed around 'an' is 'TENANTS'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for tenants that I've seen before include "They pay rent" , "Occupiers" , "Lodgers" , "residents" .)