The reality of temporary accommodation

More than 176,000 children are homeless in temporary accommodation. With IKEA, we're exposing the reality and campaigning for more social homes.

Newsletter contents

Temporary accommodation isn't a home

More than 176,000 children are homeless in temporary accommodation in England. Social homes are the only solution.

To show the reality of being trapped in cramped, mouldy, dangerous places, we’re sharing children’s experiences and, through our partnership with IKEA, we installed a real-life roomset at IKEA Sheffield.

The ‘roomset’ contrasted the store’s showrooms with the grotty temporary accommodation children are stuck in nationwide. We created the installation to show how important social homes are, after Sheffield City Council announced plans to stop using hotels and B&Bs to house families by the end of 2026.

An installation of a child's room living in temporary accommodation is installed in an IKEA showroom. There is a toilet, clothes in a suitcase, a bed, and a sleeping bag on the floor. There is a quote from a child talking about living with mice shown on a house sign.

The roomset is inspired by stories our Sheffield team heard from children and families in the city. One child described counting mice as they darted around his accommodation. Another child couldn’t go to the toilet at night because the room was so cramped. They said,

'The main thing I remember is not being able to go to the bathroom at night time. This is because Mummy slept in the living room on a fold-out bed that blocked the door, with her legs dangling over the end.'

Temporary accommodation isn’t a home. Even the name makes that clear. So, with your support, we’re campaigning harder than ever for the government to deliver on its promised ‘social housing revolution’ by building 90,000 social homes every year for the next ten years.

Join the campaign