[Image: Shelter.]

In 2013, we had 80,000 homeless children. Now, just three years later, that number has increased by 50 – fifty – per cent.

And the Prime Minister – whoever it is, under the Tories they’re all interchangeable – says the government is reducing homelessness and puts out a line about the amount of money being given to local authorities to sort it out.

Because the Conservative Party measures success in terms of the amount of money poured into the system, not the outcomes it generates.

Fifty years since Shelter was first founded, the country is once again in the grip of a housing crisis. If there’s one thing that sums up the situation, it’s the fact that 120,000 children will be homeless this Christmas. This is the equivalent of four children at every school.

This is a 15% rise from last year. Child homelessness is increasing in the UK, and we need urgent action to prevent things getting worse. That’s why we’re campaigning for Theresa May to make ending homelessness a priority for her new government.

You may not have realised child homelessness was this high, because you won’t see children on the streets. And because they are out of sight, most people have no idea of their appalling, unsafe living conditions.

Councils have a duty to find children that have nowhere to live somewhere to sleep. However, the housing shortage forces them to place more and more homeless families into insecure and inappropriate emergency accommodation. This can be anything from cramped bed and breakfasts to hostels; places where families might have no cooking facilities. They could be squashed into a single room, and sharing a bathroom with dozens of strangers.

While children in emergency accommodation might have a roof over their heads, they are clearly without a home. They do not have the space to live their lives – to play, study, or relax. Nor a place of stability and safety where they can grow and develop.

Source: 120,000 children will be homeless this Christmas | Shelter blog

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: