Children forced to live in shipping containers
‘Poky, dangerous Dickensian’ places home to families due to lack of council accommodation
CHILDREN are being raised in shipping containers and office blocks because councils do not have enough accommodation in which to house them, an official report has found.
Almost a quarter-of-a-million children could be without a permanent home in England and are living in “unfit” accommodation – including office blocks, shipping containers and B&BS.
The findings are published today by the Children’s Commissioner in a report that “shines a light” on the “disruptive and frightening impact on their lives”. Anne Longfield, who took up the role in 2015, called the situation a “scandal”, while children’s charities have described such accommodation as “poky, dangerous conditions [which] belong in a Dickensian novel”.
The report, entitled “Bleak Houses: Tackling the crisis of family homelessness in England”, estimates that there could be more than 210,00 homeless children in England. Of them, 124,000 are officially homeless and in temporary accommodation, with around 90,000 in “sofa-surfing” families. The figure is likely to be higher due to a lack of data on those placed in temporary accommodation by children’s services.
Ms Longfield said: “Something has gone very wrong with our housing system when children are growing up in B&BS, shipping containers and old office blocks. Children have told us of the disruptive and at times frightening impact this can have on their lives. It is a scandal that a country as prosperous as ours is leaving tens of thousands of families in temporary accommodation for long periods of time, or to sofa surf.”
The repurposing of shipping containers is a recent development. The units are typically one or two-bedroom and small, meaning that overcrowding can be an issue. They are often too hot in summer and too cold in winter, and anti-social behaviour has been a problem in some.
Ms Longfield raised concerns about B&BS being used as temporary accommodation, and creating “intimidating and potentially unsafe environments” for children, with bathrooms often shared with other residents.
Of the 2,420 families known to be living in B&BS in December 2018, a third had been there for more than six weeks – despite this being unlawful.
Almudena Lara, the NSPCC’S head of policy and public affairs, said: “These descriptions of poky, dangerous conditions belong in a Dickensian novel, but instead they paint a picture of life in the 21st century for many families.”
Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, added that the report was “a damning indictment of the Government’s catastrophic failure to address the housing emergency”.
Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s housing spokesman, blamed the “severe lack of social rented homes available” and warned that homelessness services faced a £159 million funding gap in 2020/21.
A government spokesman said: “No child should ever be without a roof over their head and we are working to ensure all families have a safe place to stay.
“We have invested £1.2 billion to tackle all types of homelessness, including funding a team of specialist advisers which has, in two years, helped local authorities to reduce the number of families in B&B accommodation for more than six weeks by 28 per cent.”