Temporary accommodation is increasingly becoming a children’s rights problem in the UK, with over 165,000 children across England experiencing homelessness. A report, published by Shared Health Foundation, exposes thirteen violations of the United Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) caused to children living in temporary accommodation. With the impending release of the homelessness and child poverty strategies, children trapped in the temporary accommodation crisis should be at the forefront of policymaker’s agendas. By publishing this report, Shared Health wants to see children made a priority in local and national approaches to managing and ending homelessness.
Titled ‘Children Living in Temporary Accommodation: An Absolute Scandal’, the report draws upon the experiences of families across the country to outline the detrimental effects that living in temporary accommodation has on a child’s health and education. We find the rights violations to be caused by poor quality accommodation, the extensive and prolonged use of B&Bs, barriers to accessing healthcare and educational services, and discriminatory treatment.
We are deeply concerned about the reliance on B&B and shared accommodation, particularly the lack of safeguarding protections for families placed into mixed accommodation with single adults and required to share bathroom and kitchen facilities. The exposure of children to substance abuse, violence, and sexual exploitation is a serious safeguarding concern.
Additionally, we are alarmed by the increasing rates of child mortality where temporary accommodation has been listed as a contributing factor to a child’s death. Shared Health, in collaboration with the National Child Mortality Database, uncovered in January 2025 that seventy-four children have died since 2019 with temporary accommodation as a contributing factor. Fifty-eight of these children did not make it to their first birthday.
Examples of good practice are highlighted throughout the report to emphasise the great work already happening across the country. Some of these include: dedicated play areas for young children in temporary accommodation where there is no space for play in their rooms; a school working collaboratively with the local authority to better support families experiencing or at risk of homelessness; and temporary accommodation providers stocking cots for families with babies, among others. These pockets of good practice are important reminders that the immediate effects of homelessness on families can be alleviated through simple measures.
The recommendations put forward in the report are aimed at local and national government to end the violations of children’s rights under the UNCRC, as well as wider suggestions to tackle the human costs of the temporary accommodation crisis. Recommendations for both national and local government include: the adoption of a child’s rights based approach, reducing child mortality in temporary accommodation, better data collection, recognition of discrimination within the system, and support for homeless parents in or returning to employment.
We are also calling on national and local government to implement the SAFE protocol that requires local authorities to notify schools and GPs when a child is placed into temporary accommodation, with guidance being provided for those services so they can best support homeless children. As co-secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation, we are working with Parliamentarians to ensure this protocol is enshrined in the new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
On a local level, the report suggests improvements in access to travel for homeless families, a recognition of the need for postnatal support in accommodation allocations for families with newborns, and an end to the mixing of families and single adults in shared accommodation. Nationally, Shared Health is seeking cross-departmental work from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local government, the Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care to better support homeless children. These recommendations can be implemented in the short term to improve the immediate situation while other longer-term solutions, such as housebuilding, can be put into motion.
The consequence of welfare reforms and depleting levels of affordable and social housing is that more children will experience homelessness. As the report highlights, currently 50% of the homeless population are children and so it is vital that efforts to tackle all forms of homelessness take into account the needs of children. They are at an increased risk of experiencing homelessness again as adults, but this can be prevented. We are calling for policymakers to adopt these recommendations and put an end to the violations against children’s rights caused by unsuitable and inappropriate temporary accommodation.
The Government’s strategy for ending homelessness starts with children.
