At least 135,000 children homeless in Britain

It is the first time that Shelter has been able to calculate the frequency of children becoming homeless in this country.

The figures are included in the charity's new report, ‘Our Generation Homeless’, which shows that a child becomes homeless every eight minutes.

With a lack of social homes, expensive private rents and welfare cuts, Shelter is warning that if nothing changes, 1,647 children will be made homeless between now and the time of the general election and 4,026 by Christmas Day.

The report finds that:

• The areas with the highest proportion of homeless children in England are in the London boroughs Kensington & Chelsea, Haringey, Westminster, and Newham where one in every 12 children are homeless.
• Outside the capital, the places with the highest concentration of homeless children are Luton (one in every 22 children), Brighton & Hove (one in every 30) and Manchester (one in every 47).
• There is an average of five homeless children for every school in the country.

The report also highlights the plight of the 5,683 homeless families with children living in emergency B&Bs and hostels.

 Case study

The charity spoke to 10-year-old Will who lives in a single room with his mum, dad and three-year-old brother Harry in an emergency B&B in Ilford. The family became homeless after being served a Section 21 'no fault' eviction.

Will said, ‘Life in the B&B is horrible. There’s no room to do anything. I’ve been told off by someone for running in the small corridor, you can’t do much, you can’t play much.

‘Sometimes me and my little brother Harry, we fight for the one chair, because we both want to sit at the table, and sometimes he wins and sometimes I win. I find it really hard to do my homework as I get distracted by my little brother and I don’t have another room to work in peace.

‘I love to read my book at the end of the day and I struggle to because part of the time, my little brother Harry needs to go to bed. And we need to turn off the lights which means I can’t see the pages

‘We moved here in September, and they said we were going to stay for six weeks. Then they told us we were going to stay for two more, then they told us it will be another week, then another one.’

The charity is calling on every political party to put housing at the top of its domestic agenda and asking the public to support its urgent Christmas appeal. 

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said, ‘The fact 183 children become homeless every day is a scandalous figure and sharp reminder that political promises about tackling homelessness must be turned into real action.

‘Day in, day out we see the devastating impact the housing emergency is having on children across the country. They are being uprooted from friends, living in cold cramped B&Bs and going to bed at night scared by the sound of strangers outside.

‘Every child has the right to a safe home and if we act now, we can help get them to a better place.’

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said, ‘Every child should have somewhere safe to live, and councils have a duty to provide temporary accommodation to those who need it, including families with children.

‘We’re supporting them to reduce the numbers in temporary accommodation by giving £1.2bn to tackle all types of homelessness.’