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England

‘We’ve got no home’: The experiences of homeless children in emergency accommodation

By: Shelter
Published: December 2017

‘We’ve got no home’: The experiences of homeless children in emergency accommodation

Around 128,000 children in Britain are currently homeless. These children are hidden away, in flats, houses, cheap hotels and shared houses of multiple occupancy. Around one in eleven live in what is classed ‘emergency accommodation’ where they share facilities - and in extreme cases even rooms - with other families.

Very few people see inside these places. In order to reveal the way that thousands of children live, we spoke to 23 parents living in emergency accommodation about the place itself, and the effect of living there on family life. We then spoke to 10 children of primary and secondary school age to understand, in their own words, the impact that homelessness can have on children.