Will, 10, says living in a B&B, where he shared a single room
with his parents and younger brother, is 'worse than being in a
real-life horror film'
(
Shelter
)
The number of children set to be homeless this Christmas is the
highest in 12 years, with 135,000 youngsters currently without a home of
living in temporary accommodation, new figures show.
An analysis of data by charity Shelter shows
a child currently becomes homeless every eight minutes, meaning 4,026
children are set to lose their homes between now and Christmas day.
The report shows the number of families with children in
temporary accommodation has increased by 11 per cent in England and 46
per cent in Wales since 2014 – while in Scotland it has dropped by 14
per cent.
A regional breakdown of England shows child homelessness
has risen most dramatically in the north of the country, with the
figure up by 233 per cent in the northeast, 339 per cent in the
northwest and a staggering 400 per cent in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The West Midlands has also worsened considerably over the past 15
years, with a rise of 232 per cent, while in London the figure was up 8
per cent and in the southeast it had reduced by 18 per cent.
When looking at the proportion of homeless children, however, the
worst affected areas were London boroughs Kensington and 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 and
Hove (one in every 30) and Manchester (one in every 47).
In one case, Will, 10, has lived in a single room with his mum,
dad and younger brother in an emergency B&B in Ilford since the
family became homeless after being served a “no fault” eviction notice –
where a landlord evicts renters for no reason after their fixed-term
tenancy ends.
Will, 10, sits in the bedroom he shares with his parents and younger brother (Shelter)
“Life in the B&B is horrible, it’s worse than being in a
real-life horror film. There’s no room to do anything, even if I’m
reading my book, as I’m still going to get annoyed by someone,” said
Will.
“I’ve been told off by someone for running in the small corridor,
you can’t do much, you can’t play much. I don’t get to play that often
[...] 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.”
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