Children’s life chances put at risk by rising homelessness, warn experts

‘It is shocking that 126,000 youngsters in England face Christmas without a home,’ charity tells Jane Dalton

(Getty Images)

The life chances of thousands of children whose families are evicted this winter are being put at risk, experts are warning.

Research by housing charity Shelter has found 126,000 children are among more than 274,000 people who are homeless in England.

And the organisation warned of a “rising tide” of people being thrown out of their homes after the temporary pandemic-driven “ban” on evictions ended.

According to specialists, rising inflation, falling incomes and cuts to health visitor numbers will all drive up numbers of children caught up in the homelessness crisis.

One in every 206 people in England is without a home, Shelter says.

And numbers are rising: the charity calculated that this summer, 10,000 more households were homeless and living in temporary accommodation than two years earlier, a rise of 12 per cent, despite the government’s “everyone in” scheme, which aimed to ensure no one was sleeping rough during the pandemic.

Dan Paskins, director of UK impact at Save the Children UK, said: “No child should have to grow up homeless, and it is shocking that 126,000 children in England face Christmas without a home.

“We know lots of parents are facing rising energy bills, higher prices for food and transport, and the extra spending on essentials like heating and warm clothes that comes every winter. This is all leading to a perfect storm of falling incomes and rising costs.

“We are already seeing that the £20 per week cut in Universal Credit is causing families to struggle, at the same time as local housing allowance is failing to keep up with rising rents.”

Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “As living costs rise and the Universal Credit cut bites, the picture could worsen.

“Until the government tackles child poverty and invests in truly affordable social homes, the health, education and life chances of thousands of children will continue to be jeopardised.”

The government says it is putting billions of pounds into various schemes helping people keep a roof over their heads.

But Sarah Owen, shadow minister for homelessness, said: “The tragic fact that 126,000 children will be without a place to call home this Christmas should shame the government.

“We need long-term solutions to tackle the scourge of homelessness. Labour would allow communities to build the right houses, in the right places, at prices that local people can afford.”

However, Monica Lakhanpaul, professor of integrated community child health at University College London, said simply building more homes was not the solution.

“People focus on housing but homelessness is bigger than that – it’s about people’s lives and health and wellbeing and their ability to get back into jobs again,” she told The Independent. “To get people out of it you have to have people healthy and give them opportunities.”

Without an address and often without access to wifi or data they can’t apply for jobs, so the cycle of homelessness continues, she said.

Prof Lakhanpaul, who has given evidence to a parliamentary group on the effects of temporary accommodation on children, said youngsters may be traumatised by repeated moves, which also affect their health and peer relationships and leave them behind on their education.

“We used to have a lot of health visitors who went into B&Bs and hostels to support families with children but now we have far fewer after cutbacks,” she said.

Public Health Wales has previously said children who suffer “significant adversity” such as being homeless are 16 times more likely to be homeless as an adult.

Shelter found that in London one in every 53 people is homeless. Outside the capital, Luton has the highest rate, with one in 66 people homeless, while Brighton and Hove has a rate of one in 78 people.

Further north, one in 81 people is homeless in Manchester, the charity said.

Polly Neate, chief executive, said: “We predicted the pandemic would trigger a rising tide of evictions and our services are starting to see the reality now. We’re flooded with calls from families and people of all ages who are homeless or on the verge of losing their home.”

The government says tackling homelessness is an “absolute priority” and it has committed more than £2bn to it over the next three years.

A spokesperson for the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Tackling homelessness is an absolute priority for this government, which is why we have committed more than £2bn in funding over the next three years.

“On top of that we’re providing £375m this year to prevent homelessness and have given councils in England £65m to support people in rent arrears.”

Peter Kemp, professor of public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, said one practical thing the government should do was to ban ‘no-fault’ evictions in the private rental market.

“That would not require additional public expenditure and indeed might save money for local authorities, who have a responsibility to rehouse homeless families who are ‘unintentionally homeless’,” he told The Independent.

One family who have lost their home, Tomasz, his wife and young children, have been living in a shed at an emergency hostel garden in Ilford since being evicted when Tomasz was priced out of private renting.

He said: “This Christmas I’m telling the kids that Santa will still be able to find them.

“I’m trying to make it better by putting up a small Christmas tree on the shelf and a Christmas light in the window.

“I want to try and make it as normal as possible but it’s so stressful and depressing.”

At the same time as the Shelter report came out, a survey of county councils found local-authority chiefs said the pressure on their local infrastructure was ‘excessive’ because of housing development.

Every respondent said they faced pressure on their local infrastructure because of new development – and 58 per cent described this as ‘excessive’.

The County Councils Network warned against pressure being placed on local infrastructure in part due to a lack of funding for new roads, health services, and schools to accompany new developments, and a disjointed planning system in county areas.

Want us to report on an issue that matters to you? Contact us by clicking here.