Deborah Garvie, from Shelter, talks about children living in temporary accommodation

For more see KentOnline.co.uk

Transcript

00:00Yeah, it's an absolute shocking record high now, over 151,000 children in England homeless

00:09with their families and in really quite horrifying temporary accommodation and that works out

00:18to be one in 78 children in the country is now growing up homeless and that's what we're

00:25seeking to highlight through our partnership with IKEA and the really shocking conditions

00:30that children are having to live in. So the first thing to say is it's very insecure.

00:37Families are moved frequently, often at 24, 48 hours notice, sometimes miles away, which

00:43is very difficult when you've got children to be at school and nursery. And then the

00:48second thing to say, which the Doll's House shows is that it's extremely cramped. Quite

00:55often families having to live in one room where they're having to eat, sleep, children

01:01playing, studying, etc. And that's often in really grotty bed and breakfast hotels and

01:09hostels. And then also it's very likely now that you'll be accommodated out of area, which

01:19could be miles and miles from the children's school. Families often having to, you know,

01:26commute for a good couple of hours on various public transport to get their kids to school

01:31and get themselves to work. And also it means they're very isolated from extended family

01:38and friends in an area that they don't know. And the final thing to say is that, again,

01:43as the Doll's House shows, the conditions are often very unhealthy and unsafe. So problems

01:51like, you know, faulty electrics, dampened mould, you know, structural problems and infestations

01:58as well, quite common to have rats or mice in the accommodation.