Foreign Property News | Posted by Si Thu Aung
The UK’s housing crisis will be ‘felt across a generation’ as the latest figures reveal the scale of children living in homelessness, a charity has warned.
Shelter urged the public to support its Christmas appeal which aims to provide families with ‘the vital helpline advice and services they need in order to keep their homes over the festive period’.
A spokeswoman said: ‘The impact of the housing crisis will be felt across a generation as one in every 103 children in Britain is now homeless.’
The charity estimates there will be 131,269 homeless children in the UK this Christmas, of whom 9,500 will spend their Christmas in a hostel or B&B. Greg Beales, director of campaigns at Shelter, said: ‘The number of children hidden away in hostels and B&Bs is enough to make anyone’s heart sink. These are not places for children.
We hear about cold, damp – even rats. Young children are sharing beds with multiple family members, trying to play in dirty public corridors.’ Local authorities in London ranked the highest for the number of homeless children, which have nearly doubled in the last five years, Shelter’s analysis of the latest figures showed. The borough of Westminster was listed as the worst-affected area in the UK, where one in 11 children are homeless, the charity said.
The figures for England and Scotland were calculated using the most recent official Government statistics on homelessness, from January to March, which showed 129,745 children in temporary accommodation. The most recent figures for Wales were from April to June and totalled 1,524 children.
James Murray, deputy mayor for housing and residential development in London, said: ‘It is shameful that the Government has allowed homelessness to rise to these levels and it is heart-breaking that so many children are suffering the consequences.’
Ref: Property Report
