We need social housing, not warehouses, for homeless kids | Daniel Lavelle

Parking familes in temporary ‘human warehouses’, as reported by the children’s commissioner, is storing up problems

In 2009 David Cameron’s Conservatives pledged to do everything in their power to strengthen families in order to prevent poverty. With the news that thousands of families are now homeless and raising their children in converted shipping containers, it’s safe to say they’ve failed on that score. The children’s commissioner for England says that 210,000 young people are homeless, either living in hostels and temporary accommodation or sofa surfing.

The report says that one in 10 new homes created in England and Wales since 2016 are in office blocks such as Terminus House in Harlow, which is known locally as a “human warehouse” and was described as “social cleansing” by local Tory MP Robert Halfon. Children are often being moved hours away from their homes, told they’ll only be in temporary accommodation for a few months then left to languish there for as long as a year. The conditions in temporary accommodation are often cramped, crowded, isolated from supportive family networks and schools, and in areas blighted by crime and anti-social behaviour.

Related: The answer to the UK’s homelessness crisis is painfully simple: give people homes | Harry Quilter-Pinner

Related: Politicians must listen to young people on how poverty and mental health are linked | Mary O’Hara

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2KM8NnY