Can you imagine living in a room so small and cramped that your two-year-old child has been unable to learn how to crawl? Or being the mother of a one-year-old living in a flat so damp that not only do you both suffer constant colds, but you cannot leave your child's cuddly toys out because they will be covered in mould within days? These examples may sound extreme, but they are cases that the campaigning charity Shelter has uncovered in the course of its work with the homeless. In fact, according to research Shelter published earlier this year, growing up in cramped conditions with no room to play is a reality for 100,000 homeless children in England alone.
Government figures show that 78,000 homeless households are currently living in temporary accommodation, the highest figure recorded. More than 12,000 of these households are living in bed-and-breakfast, which is arguably the worst kind of temporary accommodation and also, ironically, costs the public purse up to twice as much as better-quality private housing, according to research by Shelter.
Children growing up in B&Bs are often sharing a room with their entire family.
'It is developmentally a nightmare; there is so little space and it is difficult for social interaction,' says Garry Brennan, a welfare rights worker for Barnardo's. Garry works for the London-based Families in Temporary Accommodation project (FiTA), which provides support for families in B&Bs, hostels and rented substandard accommodation deemed 'not secure'.
No room to play
From a child's perspective, living in B&Bs comes with its own set of problems. 'Room for toys and proper playing can be limited, and for older children their homework can be drastically affected,' says Garry. There is also a stigma attached to living in such places and for a child it can be a bewildering place to grow up. You can't have your friends round to visit or stay over.
Garry adds, 'Living in a B&B or a hotel is a nightmare, because they can be very noisy places and children have their sleeping patterns destroyed.'
Families also tend to have poor diets as a result of living in such conditions, sharing limited and often unhygienic cooking facilities, and not having access to a freezer.
There are practical considerations for young children having to share communal bathrooms and landings. Drugs and prostitution can be rife. Garry says, 'We've had to move some families because we've found used needles on the stairs.'
Garry says that health visitors are 'our biggest ally, putting families in touch so that Barnardo's can push for the help they need in education or health-wise'. Doctors are often reluctant to register people living in temporary accommodation, and Gary says he has to sometimes fight to get a nursery place. 'But I say to them, look - children have got to have an education.'
Nursery support
Westminster Children's Society (WCS) runs 12 children's centres in the London borough with one of the highest rates of temporary accommodation in the capital. Westminster gives priority nursery places to children living in bed and breakfast.
Operations manager June O' Sullivan says, 'We often find children's development can be impeded. We look at the needs of the child and any problems they may have.'
She adds, 'There are often high levels of depression among the mothers. If you can't feel good about yourself, how can you feel good about your children? You need to link effectively with the home so the nursery can be effective.'
To this end WCS has a parents' room in some of its centres with free advice leaflets and 'to give people just that bit of space'. It is also developing a programme for parents to meet the different needs of each nursery. In the past it has provided relaxation classes for parents.
Barnardo's has carried out research with local authorities in London and as a result identified four main boroughs where there is a particular need for services. The FiTA project runs a support service for a day each week in Westminster, Wandsworth, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets. It rents premises, a church hall, for example, where it runs adult and child activities for pre-school children with playworkers. Parents can go for advice and the children get a chance to play. In the summer holidays FiTA runs a play scheme, providing children's entertainers, a sports day and outings to the seaside. A drama group has also been set up for school-age children to build their self-esteem, increase their communication skills and meet new friends.
In the community
Shelter's Homeless to Home services are run throughout the country and the focus is on re-settling the whole family. Sarah McKeown, manager of Shelter's Homeless to Home in Sheffield, explains that local authorities'
housing policies vary. The Sheffield service takes referrals from interim accommodation and then families move directly to a permanent home. In other areas there can be three stages - temporary, interim and then permanent.
Shelter works with families to help them settle into new communities, working alongside health visitors and social workers. When families move into the area they are given information on nursery and school places available. Children housed in temporary accommodation tend to change schools frequently, and this can have adverse effects on their learning and behaviour. Shelter will help parents fill in forms to get children on the list for particular schools. 'There may be logistical problems with children in the same family of different ages going to schools in different areas. We try to eradicate these obstacles,' says Sarah.
Shelter's Homeless to Home in Edinburgh has employed child support staff for the past three years. The staff meet with local nurseries and help children of families in temporary accommodation get the priority attention they need. They provide outreach support to families and employ a qualified art therapist and play therapist.
Christine Johnston, manager of the project, says, 'We provide play support and help to minimise the distress by trying to help children make sense of what's happened.' The project deals with about 150 children a year, from babies up to the age of 16. Each family is provided with two support workers, one to work with the adults and one to work with the children. The project also runs group sessions for mothers and infants. 'Parents are coping with the added trauma of being homeless and we help them regain their confidence,' says Christine.
There is no easy answer to the blight of homelessness for families. The Government's pledge that no families with children will be living in bed and breakfast accommodation by 2004, if realised, would only go some way to alleviating the problem.
Shelter believes that the only real solution lies in long-term planning to build enough decent, affordable, permanent housing and has called on the Government for a commitment to this. Without this, thousands of children every year will continue to suffer the damaging effects and trauma of being without a proper home.
CASE STUDY
* Kim and her one-year-old son have permanent colds caused by the damp in their flat. Her son suffers badly from asthma and the damp and mould are making his condition worse. If Kim leaves her child's cuddly toys out they will be covered in damp and mould within days. They've tried to treat the damp several times, but nothing works. Kim says, 'I even sent the council a letter saying that the damp was making my son ill. But they won't re-house us and we've got nowhere else to go.'
Residents in this local authority block have been suffering from health problems caused by the damp for more than ten years. In 2000 Shelter conducted an environmental survey on one flat and found, 'The property is so wet that consideration should be given as to whether the tenant can reasonably be expected to occupy the flat.'
CASE STUDY: ANN
* Ann is nine and lives with her mother and eight-month-old brother in hostel accommodation. The family have been deemed 'intentionally homeless'
and Barnardo's has found a solicitor and carried out a report to support the family's appeal against this decision. Ann finds it hard living in such cramped conditions, sharing one room and not having any privacy. Her little brother's crying disturbs her sleep. Ann's schoolwork has begun to suffer and her mother is increasingly depressed and unable to cope. Barnardo's are helping the family by providing Ann's mother with one-to-one support in life skills training. Ann is able to benefit from the playschemes run during half-terms and other holidays, which give her space to play, access to developmental toys and the opportunity to meet other children.
