One in seven children hit by housing crisis
29 November, 2006
One in seven British children - 1.6 million overall - are growing up homeless or in bad housing. This is the shocking picture that emerges from new research released by Shelter to mark 40 years since its launch.
Against the Odds provides powerful new evidence of a generation of children torn apart by the housing divide. The report reveals that:
- In England, children in bad housing are twice as likely to leave school with no GCSEs
- More than 40,000 young people aged 16-18 years living in bad housing in England have no GCSEs
- Almost 310,000 children in bad housing in Britain are suffering long-term illness or disability
- Each year, more than 57,000 children living in bad housing in Britain are excluded from school.
Against the Odds also reveals that, compared with other children, youngsters in bad housing are:
- Twice as likely to be persistently bullied
- Almost twice as likely to suffer from poor health
- Twice as likely to have been excluded from school.
The Shelter report was based on figures from the most comprehensive Government survey of families, The Family and Children Study, published in April by the Department for Work and Pensions and carried out by the National Centre for Social Research.