News

Wanted: a good home

Children in temporary accommodation not only face psychological harm due to the effects of homelessness, but are also at risk from physical dangers such as accidents, cuts and fire hazards brought about by overcrowding and lack of play space.

Bed and breakfasts, which account for much of the temporary accommodation for homeless families, are particularly likely to lack facilities for children and to be overcrowded with many people sharing amenities, according to the recent report Safe as houses?, published by the Child Accident Prevention Trust. The trust calls on the government to introduce national safety standards for temporary accommodation to combat such accidents, but recognising that this may take several years, it urges local authorities to implement such measures locally.

On average, homeless families spend 67 weeks in temporary accommodation, with some families waiting several years as councils attempt to find suitable housing or to assess whether they are ‘priority need’.

The major accident risks to children in these settings are dangerous design features, overcrowding, bad cooking and heating facilities and poor repair. A GP quoted in the report says: ‘I have seen many children with burns and scalds, some severe, which are directly due to the overcrowding and lack of facilities in those hotels.

Overcrowding is a particularly acute problem and ‘houses in multiple occupation’ have a ten times greater risk of fire breaking out. Many hotels lack adequate fire escapes and there is often restricted access to telephones for emergency calls.

The report calls for a co-ordinated approach on various fronts from voluntary organisations, which can help by providing drop-in facilities for families, to local authorities which should enforce existing standards of housing safety.