Bad housing hurts 'a million children'

One million children - enough to fill the cities of Manchester, Edinburgh and Bath - live in bad housing conditions in Britain, a report by the charity Shelter has claimed. The report, Toying with the future: the hidden cost of the housing crisis, was published last week to coincide with the launch of the charity's Million Children campaign. It highlights the effects of homelessness and substandard living conditions on children's lives, and Shelter has called on the UK Government, Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly to commit themselves to 'ending bad housing for the next generation of children'.