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That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and

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conditions apply. The

1:29

first thing you'll find is a number of children who grew up in the

1:31

posters on your bedroom wall.

1:33

But a record number of children have no place to call

1:35

home. 142,000

1:39

kids in England, are homeless

1:41

but hidden, stuck in temporary

1:43

accommodation, consigned to B&Bs

1:45

and hotels, former office blocks

1:47

and even shipping containers. For

1:51

this episode of Far Long Four, I

1:53

followed the temporary housing process And

1:56

seen first hand how a system

1:58

designed to be a short term

2:00

safety program. it's become a trap

2:02

many children can't escape. When

2:10

Liverpool which. Finds itself at the

2:13

sharp end of the affordable housing

2:15

crisis is mortgages have become more

2:17

expensive, Landlords have been selling up

2:19

and telling tenants to go. Over

2:24

some this comes to put let

2:26

the weapons. From

2:29

Clinton's last night. To

2:36

free people. Because

2:39

you around the rest. On

2:48

that question asked of the last nine

2:50

months have been a fight for survival

2:52

for twelve yards just a section. Twenty

2:54

One Nice is sometimes referred to as

2:56

a no vote. Is it Since with

2:59

the start of a nightmare for his

3:01

mom and dad, Maxine on car. They.

3:03

Try to find somewhere else that

3:06

rents the sky high. They realized

3:08

with horror they couldn't afford any

3:10

way. Came. In from

3:12

skills and. A

3:14

cool to the moon does

3:16

she said. For

3:19

me and house. To

3:23

the risk was also misses

3:25

him some. Very specific

3:27

social. Status

3:30

as young as because only going

3:32

out with of friends and stuff

3:34

from the. Over still has been. We

3:36

acevedo mah yeah she's gone. We have

3:38

to say we were gonna bust. Well

3:42

as sex. But anyway, the family had to

3:44

give many away that their furniture and storage

3:46

and go to the council for help. It.

3:49

Agreed they were eligible for temporary

3:51

accommodation. It. Sent them to a

3:53

hotel. Where. They were shown to

3:55

one room with two beds. A

3:58

tele. and the kettle It

4:00

was just tiny, horrible.

4:04

It wasn't very, like, suitable

4:06

for life. Children,

4:08

or you could basically just watch

4:11

TV or go to sleep. It's

4:14

just misery. Jack felt like

4:16

he'd woken up in one of his video games.

4:19

He was trapped in one room, and

4:21

his mission was to find a way to escape.

4:24

It was just like a game, trying to get past the level, to

4:26

be honest, and it

4:28

was just day after day after day just struggle,

4:30

what you go through stuff. From

4:33

there it was just all scary and

4:36

sad. Jack is a livewire.

4:38

He's not designed to live in one

4:40

room. He was climbing the walls. His

4:43

mum was stressed to the eyeballs, and

4:46

then she was diagnosed with throat cancer. Just

4:49

thinking about those four long months makes

4:51

her emotional. People need to be aware,

4:53

right? It really does take its toll

4:55

on your mental health. I

4:57

mean, I'm a very strong person, but it

4:59

really, really does take its toll on you, being

5:03

homeless with children. Jack's

5:05

family is just one of hundreds

5:07

for homeless in Liverpool. The

5:09

City Council has declared a

5:11

housing emergency. It's projected to

5:13

spend £19 million on

5:16

temporary accommodation this year, much

5:18

of it on hotels. How

5:22

highly is it? And then if you

5:24

go right up here. Up

5:27

here? Yep. Councillor

5:29

Sarah Doyle is the cabinet member for housing.

5:32

She says that everywhere she goes, it's

5:34

the same story. It

5:36

really does feel like it's becoming the norm,

5:38

and it's something that schools are saying to

5:40

me is often discussed in playgrounds now, which

5:43

really is quite a horrible thought to think about, isn't it?

5:46

How many families do you think you

5:48

have in hotels today, Liverpool? So

5:50

I think the last time we checked, there's 253 families in

5:52

hotels, bed

5:56

and breakfast, soft placements, but we

5:58

do envisage that for me. If

6:01

a family goes into a hotel tonight

6:04

and they're going to expect to be

6:07

there weeks or months or years, I

6:10

would say that they're looking to be there definitely

6:12

months, if not going into

6:14

one or two years. Currently

6:16

there's over 14,000 applicants

6:20

on our social housing register

6:22

and there's about a turnover, about just over

6:24

1,000 properties a year. We

6:27

have people, unfortunately, who are on

6:29

property pole for many, many years,

6:31

trying to access a home that

6:33

is suitable for them, that they can

6:35

afford. Do you feel the pressure?

6:39

Yeah, it really is a difficult

6:41

situation and that's really

6:44

emotionally distressing. Because you

6:46

meet people in what is the most

6:48

vulnerable and difficult times of their lives.

6:51

Jack and his mum and dad were in the hotel

6:53

room for four months until rescue came.

6:55

A flat at the Belvedere

6:58

Family Centre is funded

7:00

by Liverpool City Council and

7:02

can offer families dedicated, self-contained

7:04

temporary accommodation. There's a

7:06

team here which offers families support.

7:09

Sue Donald is the children's worker. You

7:11

think about a child as uprooted from not only

7:13

its home and its stability, but also

7:16

it can be things like the family,

7:18

community, friends, school. So, yeah, the loss

7:20

of a child is massive. It's absolutely

7:22

massive, yeah, and it can only

7:24

be traumatic. The centre is

7:27

a former convent with high ceilings and

7:29

big windows. The family

7:31

room looks out over the garden. One

7:33

of the big things that we do is we really want

7:35

to encourage reading and books and things. So

7:37

we have them scattered around the place and we actively

7:40

encourage the children to take them. So out there I

7:42

can see a playground. Is that yours or is that

7:44

the school's next door? No, no, that's ours. That's all

7:46

our space. The

7:48

huge store is containers full of bikes. Looking

7:51

round, Sue says children are often coming

7:53

straight from cramped hotels and B&Bs and

7:56

it can take them a while to adjust. Some

7:59

Children can come in. the be very very

8:01

were torn on you could sail universes you

8:04

know they pleasant child and in a city

8:06

funny apply to tell but the reality is

8:08

if the way they deal with they experienced

8:10

trauma and then you get older children are

8:13

very hyperactive very engaging with the stuff and

8:15

everything. good bitches. Same thing we do drama

8:17

music so it's a creative way of expressing

8:20

yourself. The not gonna make a perfect but

8:22

we wanted to make this the best possible.

8:24

Experience. It's. The only

8:26

set up like it's in Liverpool. To

8:29

sixteen families, it is a

8:31

real lifesaver. But. There are

8:33

hundreds of homeless children in the city. We

8:36

could probably felt this place over and over

8:38

and over again. Poodle we think about as

8:40

well as those children the be obese and

8:42

within a very low key position that we

8:44

can make a difference here. Yes this is

8:47

just lift to me as a financial sense

8:49

of health that we can offer. When.

8:51

Jack arrived here. He felt like he

8:53

could finally breathe again. I. Was

8:56

just felt good. Christian to stop getting

8:58

emails all a the me and I'm

9:00

on the Steelers and just live normally

9:02

would like to than normal. Nice. For

9:05

her. Part of those of other stress

9:07

is just a good place to stay

9:10

even know what are your own food?

9:12

It's just it's just a cool place

9:14

laden. Just sit down and make yourself

9:16

feel safe. See. His mum

9:18

after the hotel room having two

9:20

bedrooms, sofa and a kitchen felt

9:22

like salvation. Answer is either ruff

9:24

from thought it was like the

9:26

We Have Been Lifted off my

9:28

shows. Some caught. Up with some mythical

9:30

about me. Last says if. It's

9:33

a simple everyday tasks animals supposed

9:35

to do was just like flop

9:37

on few. Leads

9:40

them to say seems as. Though

9:43

both. This

9:46

is. It will. Absorb.

9:50

Some they're pushing a. Jack

9:56

in his family feel lucky to have

9:58

a doorbell and sadly they are. compared

10:00

to the four and a half

10:02

thousand families in B&B style accommodation.

10:05

The number has tripled in the

10:07

last three years. Liverpool

10:09

City Council wants to get children

10:11

out of hotels so it's planning

10:13

to start leasing properties from private

10:15

landlords. That's something that

10:17

councils in London already do and

10:19

they're spending a mind-blowing 90 million

10:23

pounds a month on temporary

10:25

accommodation. There are 85,000 homeless children

10:29

in the capital. I'm

10:31

going to visit three sisters who are

10:33

living in a hotel in Ilford in

10:35

East London. So

10:38

you share a birthday? Yes. Wow! She was

10:40

born at 12 o'clock, same as me. All

10:45

right, well tell me how old you all are then? I am

10:48

10. Yes. How

10:50

old are you? I'm 8. Right. Okay,

10:54

do you all get on or do you fight? What

10:57

do the boys fight? Alia, Jamila and

10:59

Leanne all have long dark hair and

11:01

brown eyes. It looks like they've got

11:03

their party outfits on. They're all pink

11:05

and sparkles. The families from

11:07

Kuwait, they were granted asylum after

11:10

the home office agreed they had a

11:12

well-founded fear of persecution in their home

11:14

country and it wasn't safe for them

11:16

to go back. As

11:18

the government clears the asylum backlog, thousands

11:20

of families are being asked to leave

11:23

home office accommodation and sent in the

11:25

direction of councils. Redbridge Council

11:27

has put the family here. There

11:30

can be a lot of stigma around homelessness

11:32

and with the children in mind we've changed

11:34

the girls names. We've done the

11:36

same for some of the other families we'll meet in the

11:38

programme. So my boys

11:40

just keep here and I sleep here and

11:42

my mum keeps in bed. Your mum keeps

11:45

on the floor? Mum! Because

11:48

there's no space for her. Right.

11:51

So how many people in this room? Four.

11:54

All The Girls. Right. And Dad's in on his

11:56

own. Yeah

12:01

we fought his knee is know a

12:03

guy yeah mama, some other Vietnam and.

12:06

And more this season with my dad

12:08

because pursue a young to as you

12:10

have to keep an eye on. Yeah

12:12

yeah it it a double bed the

12:15

two youngest skill share and a single

12:17

a pushed up against each other. The

12:19

replays everywhere in laundry baskets on the

12:21

floor, hung on an era in the

12:23

bathroom. The. Desk is piled high

12:25

with packets of rice and serial bread

12:28

and milk. Would. You do about

12:30

making meals. There. Is Kitchen now

12:32

an employee of Silver that that's a

12:34

shared kitchen Css or set to run

12:37

every time he says he, I love

12:39

to have all of that like this.

12:41

I suppose they'll cook. Atolls.

12:44

You've got a lot of things

12:46

packed into this room and you

12:48

haven't got much space. How do

12:51

you feel about it's? not that

12:53

not at all like a physically

12:55

such cost. Like they don't have

12:58

to play on top of our

13:00

employees. Something. Else to base

13:02

a glitch in know or trust

13:05

reality. T V and my bad

13:07

my school. Oil

13:10

lamp says kind of the day fall

13:12

by. Psychologists. Say

13:14

a child losing it's home and

13:16

belongings would be classed as a

13:19

trauma. It would have a similar

13:21

impact on the brain. To bereavement

13:23

says doctor said oh you have

13:25

to show has a house or

13:27

more time was you can have

13:29

more panic attacks so we showed

13:32

her once he just thought I'd

13:34

klein and key any she's a

13:36

killer is my ski talks like

13:38

that. Same rules my toys and

13:40

raise. My others. There's

13:43

no room for kids to just

13:45

be kids here to play that

13:47

plagued. By bed bugs and cockroaches

13:49

and they're not be only nasty

13:52

visitors. Sind die. Out

13:56

not support so I'll

13:58

freely like that. A

14:00

little bit. Yeah, like that. Because

14:03

our room was so far, we

14:05

were sweaty. Then

14:08

like at three

14:10

and a half at night, someone

14:13

came and stole my laptop.

14:17

What did you think about that? Horrible.

14:20

The girls' older brothers are at secondary

14:22

school. There's no internet at

14:24

the hotel, so they have to find

14:26

other places to study. They've all been

14:29

here six months and all their schoolwork

14:31

is suffering. When they were

14:33

in the house, their exams had been way good

14:35

and stuff, but now

14:37

in here they're getting low and low and

14:39

low, just like me. Like,

14:41

bad grades we're getting. Yeah, it's very bad

14:43

for this one, this one is exam. All

14:45

the two go there. No

14:48

space to think on their own. There

14:50

was no space to think and it's

14:52

like giving us headache where we do.

14:54

But if we go to the lobby,

14:57

there are people playing around and shouting,

14:59

so we can't go there, so we

15:01

don't know where to do it. I

15:04

don't like hotel. No?

15:07

No, because there's lots of crazy

15:09

people. Not before, all the time,

15:11

she shouted at me for no

15:14

reason. And she's

15:16

the right to my mum and my

15:18

dad and my siblings.

15:22

This is obviously no place for children.

15:25

The government's legal guidance

15:27

says councils must only put families in

15:30

B&B-style accommodation as a last resort, and then only

15:32

for a maximum of six weeks. That's

15:36

how the system should work on paper.

15:39

In reality, 200 families in England have been stuck

15:42

in this type of place for

15:44

over a year and some for

15:46

more than five years. It seems

15:49

the temporary accommodation process is grinding to

15:52

a halt at the first stage. Red

15:55

Bridge Council told us it has no choice

15:57

but to put families in hotels in B&B-style.

16:00

It is building 600 affordable

16:03

homes, but at the moment the

16:05

social housing list is long. The

16:07

average weight for a three bedroom home

16:09

in the borough is 16 years. If

16:15

the council can get you out of a hotel,

16:18

the next rung up the temporary housing

16:20

ladder should be something a bit more

16:22

like a home. In

16:24

West London, Ealing Council, faced

16:26

with increasing demand, joined forces

16:28

with a private developer to

16:30

come up with what it

16:32

hailed as an ingenious solution.

16:35

Come on, let's go to school now. Okay,

16:37

let's go. Be

16:39

careful on the surface. Don't

16:41

touch it, it's sharp. Are

16:44

you excited for school?

16:46

Yes. Right, I'm

16:49

going to put you in a fish, okay? We're

16:51

in Acton, in West London, with Mel. She's

16:54

recording snippets of her life on her phone.

16:59

Let's go and get the bus. Yay! Mommy!

17:03

Come and go. Get

17:07

the bigger bus. The double

17:09

decker bus. Yes. If

17:12

it comes, we'll get the double decker bus. Yay! I'm

17:17

a single mother of three children. I

17:19

have twin girls who are two,

17:22

and I've got a son who is four years old. My

17:26

kids are going to be three and five children.

17:29

Mel had a seven-month wait for

17:31

temporary housing, but was delighted when

17:33

Ealing Council said it had somewhere

17:35

suitable for her and her children.

17:38

Initially, they said to me that it was a two-bedroom

17:40

flat, but when I came here, it was

17:43

a tin container. I

17:45

thought it was a joke. I

17:47

looked around and I just saw

17:50

peeling paint and just

17:52

tin containers, and I said, this cannot be

17:54

the place. Modular

18:00

homes, as Ealing Council prefers to

18:02

call them. There's a high

18:04

perimeter fence, the window in one

18:06

of the containers is hanging off and looks like

18:09

it could drop at any moment. The

18:11

rent for Mel's two bed container

18:14

is £1,480 a month. Metal

18:18

boxes, which Mel says are boiling in

18:20

the summer and cold and damp in

18:22

the winter. Do

18:24

you like living in the containers? Why

18:31

don't you like it? It's

18:35

smelly. Mel

18:40

puts on a brave face for her children

18:42

but the reality of living like this wears

18:44

her down. Kids,

18:47

there's no water in

18:49

the shower at all so I

18:51

can't give you a shower this morning. I'm gonna have to talk and

18:53

tell you. And we

18:56

don't have any heating. There's something wrong with

18:59

the circuit or I

19:01

don't know something. But

19:03

Mum we

19:05

can't get you ready for school. Mel's

19:09

battling an infestation of biscuit beetles

19:11

in the kitchen. Every

19:13

minute I'm cleaning because

19:16

I have my children and the fans

19:18

as well where they're seeing it crawling and they're even

19:20

playing with them. When I see one I hover

19:22

it up. It's not normal for kids to

19:24

be playing with pests in their home

19:27

and then think it's normal. It's

19:29

disgusting. Beetles have invaded

19:31

Mel's container. Drug

19:33

dealers, addicts and prostitutes have

19:36

overrun the 60 home development.

19:38

There's a picture of bullets so

19:40

somebody found bullets underneath

19:43

the stairs. Mel started collecting

19:46

photographic evidence and putting it

19:48

on social media. Here we've got

19:50

a condom. A used condom.

19:52

One of many that you find in Meef

19:54

court. Yeah, they're different

19:57

let me see. And then look you've got

19:59

a Drug users

20:01

leaving outside a summer's container so

20:03

the person opens up their door and

20:05

that's what they were greeted with in the morning. That's

20:09

very, very scary. After all

20:11

Mel's publicity recently, the council employed security

20:13

guards so things are a bit better

20:15

now. She takes us to

20:17

see the resident's laundry room. The

20:21

drug dealers and drug users use it for

20:23

their home. They have sex, they

20:26

sleep here, they eat in here, they charge

20:28

their phones. They

20:30

were literally their homes. And

20:32

if we come in here, we're literally being told

20:34

to leave by force. In

20:38

the washing machines, they poo in there and

20:41

then they fold over your clean washing to

20:44

conceal it. So when you go upstairs and

20:46

you open up your washing, there's poo on

20:48

your washing. I'm not joking. Another

20:51

mum we met on the estate

20:53

said, Addicts steal anything. Her one

20:55

nice coat nicked from the washing

20:57

machine. Her children's bikes were taken.

21:00

Mel's had her bag stolen twice and

21:02

even her mail's been taken. She

21:05

says there's been an attempted rape

21:07

and attempted suicide and a

21:09

woman's fair law was pushed from one of the

21:11

windows and was found collapsed on the ground. Mel

21:14

says she's on high alert every time she steps

21:16

out the door. I feel like

21:19

I'm literally just in survival mode every single

21:21

day. It feels like you're

21:23

on a Netflix movie, like

21:26

sort of dystopian type

21:29

movie. Mel's been here

21:31

for two years. She's had

21:33

to go on antidepressants and

21:35

she's terrified about the impact it's

21:37

all having on her children, especially

21:39

her son. My child

21:42

has definitely changed in his behaviour

21:45

since he's moved here. It's

21:47

very, very sad to see and it's not nice when

21:50

as a mother, you've got a four-year-old child

21:52

that's asking you about police and

21:54

he's asking you about needles and why

21:57

is the lady in the bin? I

22:01

heard knickers down. There was a police

22:03

raid on the floor beneath

22:06

me and they were

22:08

actually terrified because they heard all of

22:10

the screaming, the shouting, the knocking, the banging,

22:12

everything. And then seeing like police

22:15

found outside flashing lights. For kids

22:17

it's scary. Rachel

22:19

De Sousa is the children's commissioner

22:21

for England. She says

22:24

children in temporary accommodation are paying

22:26

the price for a broken system.

22:29

It's one of the most serious issues

22:31

for children of our age. It's just

22:33

not good enough. It's really important

22:35

that we're talking about it today. There are some

22:37

schools I go to where half

22:39

of the children are pretty much

22:42

in temporary accommodation or homeless. Small

22:45

actions are not going to solve

22:47

this. We need investment, we need

22:49

action, we need regulation and we

22:51

need a commitment to listen to

22:53

and hear children's voices and children's

22:55

experiences. Ealing

22:59

Council is decommissioning the shipping containers

23:01

and has arranged for Mel to

23:03

move to another temporary home, a

23:05

second floor flat in another part

23:07

of town. Because

23:09

privately rented temporary accommodation has shot

23:11

up in price and the

23:14

local housing allowance has been frozen

23:16

by the government, the council says

23:18

it's increasingly having to rely on

23:20

hotels and B&Bs for those who

23:22

need emergency accommodation. In

23:24

Ealing, if you want a house made of

23:27

bricks, you might have to share it

23:30

and you might have to share a bed too.

23:40

It's fanatic and

23:42

it's just everything in one room. One

23:44

room where I have to study, eat,

23:47

sleep, sharing with my mum and

23:49

sister. I use a single bed and my mum

23:52

and sister share the double bed. I'm

23:54

in a cramped room at the

23:56

top of a privately rented shared

23:58

house with 16-year-old Rakhaya and her

24:00

younger sister Numa and their mum Nura.

24:03

There's no room for a table or chairs, just

24:06

a microwave on top of a washing

24:08

machine. In places you can't even stand

24:11

up without banging your head on the

24:13

sloping ceiling. Rakhaya wants

24:15

to study hard, she wants to be

24:17

a lawyer, but she can't get any

24:19

headspace here. It's kind of

24:21

overwhelming because I know I'm going to be

24:24

stressing in a year's time with exams and

24:27

the thought that I've already been here for over a year will

24:29

I be here for another. It's also

24:31

daunting. Nura gets up at

24:33

half five every morning to go to work as

24:35

a carer. The rent is just over

24:37

£1200 a month. Nura pays £540 and housing benefit

24:40

covers the rest. She has asthma and Nima

24:46

worries about her mum when she's lying next to

24:48

her in bed. It's kind

24:51

of difficult. I'm sleeping at night, getting

24:53

worried about myself, my sister, my mum,

24:56

her asthma, cause her

24:58

to have a lack of sleep. It

25:00

will cause her coughing, breathing

25:03

problems and it will wake me

25:05

up and it will cause me stress and problems,

25:07

covers that will cause me to stay up at

25:10

night. At school teachers were

25:12

saying why are you sleeping? I can't tell

25:14

them because it's my

25:16

mum. I really worry for her a lot. On

25:19

the stairs outside Nura says she doesn't

25:21

want her daughters worrying about her. At

25:24

the old time she can't sleep because of me.

25:28

Sometimes when I cough straight away she's wake

25:30

up and she says are you OK mum,

25:32

are you OK? And I'm

25:34

worried because I don't want to see

25:36

too much stress and I'm kissing in

25:38

my brush with my children. In

25:41

a survey for the housing charity Shelter

25:43

more than a third of parents in

25:45

temporary accommodation said their children didn't have

25:47

a bed of their own. In

25:50

Nima's case it's one of the reasons

25:52

she's putting off vital surgery. She

25:54

was supposed to have an operation months ago

25:57

to remove pins in her knee but Nura's

25:59

work is not as good as it is.

26:01

it that Nema wouldn't be able to manage

26:03

afterwards in a cramped dream at the top

26:06

as two flights of stairs and teams they're

26:08

sick, really smooth and creamy and scared that

26:10

like when I get my legs are treated

26:12

again on an is gonna help me because

26:15

I asked him score come from like blades

26:17

and my mom's cooking pissy or luck and

26:19

weren't exposed to have the operation months ago

26:22

but you delayed it. Can you explain why

26:24

Mr. Clifford displeases to train he the stairs

26:26

and will serve as how to get down

26:28

and up. Once once and

26:31

it's be like in assume and has

26:33

the world's safety. And the

26:35

ceiling of On a New Freedom

26:37

Of Speech. Is

26:40

known of. Happiness anymore?

26:43

To. Charity Shelters says childhoods the

26:45

been blighted in unfit temporary

26:47

housing because there isn't enough

26:50

social housing stock. Marie Mccray

26:52

is their System Director for

26:54

advocacy and activism. We. Know

26:56

that there are now record numbers are

26:58

children who are homeless and living in

27:00

a recommendation from what does are actually

27:02

looked like it looks like children waking

27:04

up in the morning and one bedroom

27:07

often very grotty, often very terrible conditions,

27:09

forced to share beds, casesa enough space

27:11

for all of them without a kitchens.

27:13

Took hot meals and it's having a

27:15

real impact on on every aspect of

27:17

their lives. What we need is a

27:19

new generation of of social homes and

27:22

at least ninety thousand a year said

27:24

the fussy it will feature. That's. What's

27:26

needed and the housing emergency. Nema

27:30

and Require have been in that

27:33

attic for a year and a

27:35

half. Some most children, temporary accommodation

27:38

is anything but. Two to five

27:40

years is common. We did some

27:42

analysis of the homelessness sick as

27:45

for England and we worked out

27:47

that tens of thousands of children

27:49

have been in temporary accommodation for

27:52

more than five years and family

27:54

housing is scarce. Cinema and require

27:56

a house with actual bedrooms with

27:59

that would. The like winning the

28:01

lottery, but in the world is

28:03

temporary accommodation. Be careful what you

28:05

wish for. Going to North London

28:07

now to see Alex. He's fifteen.

28:09

He's made a video in his

28:12

kitchen with what looks like an

28:14

indoor water feature. Fooling.

28:37

Why did you decide to so much? All

28:40

causing keep me up. A currency. Alex.

28:42

Was videoing rain pouring three the

28:44

ceiling and the inside of a

28:46

broken back to when i get

28:48

that his mom teen or is

28:51

trying to patch it up or

28:53

because black plastic wrap have used

28:55

it as a makeshift to keep

28:57

the wins in the polls. her

28:59

hop on the rain basically can

29:01

see it blow his boss com

29:03

six the room. Song. Is.

29:06

A big black hole above our heads.

29:08

everyday. this pieces fool in I'm in.

29:10

The plaster is a hole in the

29:12

blast. Average black. It's black with multi

29:15

and you've got a bucket on the

29:17

news. Just make the Cia. The

29:22

rents is thirteen hundred and sixty

29:24

pounds a month as well as

29:27

worrying the ceilings going to come

29:29

down. Penis got a wobbly partition

29:31

wall damp. And rents.

29:34

And. Problems with the heating. When.

29:37

They moved in and licks with. He's.

29:40

Sixteen now. Okay, let's see

29:42

your room then Alex. Okay,

29:47

See you go into your fitness Like good

29:50

to see White center was that. Was a

29:52

bench. I'll just for a lark. To

29:54

my mind off of sensors. Lift weights?

29:56

Never sir. Alex says me

29:58

a. Whole around. a heating pipe where

30:01

the rats come in. They come

30:03

through there. You can see where I've tried to

30:05

put paper in the hole. Yeah. And

30:08

they've still found their way through. You can

30:10

hear them in the floorboards, if you're sitting downstairs,

30:12

you can literally hear them in the ceiling. So

30:14

we can hear your mum still trying to

30:16

fix the door downstairs. She obviously tries

30:19

to keep it together for you and I'm guessing you probably

30:21

try and keep it together for her. But

30:23

it is taking its toll on you as well,

30:25

isn't it? Yeah. I went to

30:28

the doctors today and I had to talk

30:30

about how I feel at home and

30:32

stuff. And I

30:35

might be on a programme or something

30:37

for mental health. I

30:39

want to dream big, you know. We

30:41

always say, don't limit yourself, push

30:43

yourself to the furthest. But as

30:46

of right now, the house and

30:48

everything, it's just really hard to even

30:51

just get out of bed, you know.

30:53

It's seriously affecting Alex. He

30:55

barely goes to school and has become

30:58

withdrawn. The doctors suggested he

31:00

might need medication for depression. Tina

31:03

comes up and we have a chat in her room. He

31:06

wants to be able to bring his friends round

31:08

the house. I can't do that. It's

31:10

really embarrassing. You know, it's not

31:12

nice for him to

31:14

live that way. He can't be like every

31:17

other kid. It's just really,

31:19

really, really sad to see my

31:21

son depressed because of the housing

31:23

situation. He just shuts

31:25

down his motion. There was

31:27

a point trying to get my son to go

31:29

to school. He would barricade himself behind

31:32

the bedroom door. He would lock himself

31:34

in the bathroom and I just got a bit

31:36

worried that I had to take the lock off the

31:38

bathroom door because I just... Sorry,

31:41

I didn't mean to upset

31:44

you. I've

31:46

called CAMs. I've

31:49

called the doctors. I've called the

31:51

social services, the school, the

31:56

crisis team, just anyone that can help

31:59

my son. Is anything in process for

32:01

him? Is he on the waiting list for

32:03

Cairns? Yeah, he's on the waiting list for

32:05

Cairns. That's a child and adolescent mental health

32:08

team, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Just obviously

32:10

a lot of children have

32:12

been affected, not just my son, so

32:14

there is a long waiting list as

32:17

well. Alex's

32:21

house is one of 650

32:23

Hizbarah leases from private landlords.

32:26

The council says it will repair the back

32:28

door and deal with any rats. It

32:31

told us it instructed the owner of the property

32:33

to fix the roof a year ago, but he

32:35

failed to do anything. The council's doing

32:37

the work and is going to bill him. But

32:40

Tina and Alex will have to be moved

32:42

anyway because he wants the house back. Alex

32:45

has spent more than half his

32:47

childhood in temporary housing. I

32:50

asked Mari McRae from Shelter

32:52

whether his experience is unusual.

32:55

Unfortunately, it's really common. Temporary

32:57

accommodation is far from temporary.

33:00

I've spoken personally to children who have

33:02

spent their whole childhood in temporary accommodation.

33:05

It is far from temporary and it is having

33:07

a huge and traumatic impact on

33:09

children and their carers as they struggle

33:11

to navigate not having a safe,

33:14

secure and a permanent place to call home.

33:17

Alex's local council says it's committed to

33:19

building 3,000 new council homes, but

33:22

it needs the government to, quote, accept

33:25

its responsibility to provide adequate

33:28

and sustained funding. Councillor

33:31

Darren Rodwell is from the Local

33:33

Government Association. It speaks for

33:35

local councils. We do

33:37

have situations where we find some

33:40

people in accommodation which is not

33:42

acceptable. I've never heard of a

33:44

council that said we will leave them now. They

33:46

will try and do their best to try and

33:48

find a new accommodation that will be sitting for

33:50

the family. I have to say that

33:53

is the feeling of some of the families we've

33:55

met, that they're just being basically left to rot.

33:57

You know, we've met children who talk about sticking

33:59

cereal. box packaging across broken

34:02

windows, eating their tea on

34:04

their beds, sharing their beds with their parents

34:06

and bed bugs, going without

34:08

heating, having their belongings stolen,

34:11

seeing prostitution in their block and

34:13

just nowhere to do their homework, nowhere to

34:16

play and just be kids. Look

34:18

I agree it's abhorrent the situation

34:21

we find ourselves in and that's

34:23

why as local government we are

34:25

saying to government today please

34:28

give us the funding to help

34:30

build the homes we need so

34:32

all of what you've just spoken

34:34

about isn't there because no

34:36

one wants to see a child growing

34:39

up in poverty and distress in the

34:41

way that we are seeing in

34:43

certain parts of our community because we do

34:46

not have enough council or

34:48

social housing to house future

34:50

generations. There's 1.2 million homes

34:53

that have planning permission by local authorities

34:55

that could be built out today if

34:58

the money was there. I'd

35:02

hoped to talk to a housing minister but

35:04

the government declined in interview. It

35:07

told us councils must make sure temporary

35:09

accommodation is suitable. It said

35:11

it wants everyone to have a safe place to

35:13

call home so it's given

35:15

local authorities 1.2 billion pounds

35:18

over three years to help people find

35:20

a new home and move out of

35:22

temporary housing. Councils say

35:25

they're spending more than that every

35:27

year on temporary accommodation. The

35:30

government says it will deliver thousands

35:33

more affordable homes. Housing

35:35

campaigners say social housing with rents

35:37

tied to local income is what's

35:40

needed. Before

35:42

we end an update on how the children

35:44

we've met are doing. Alex's

35:47

mum has been given details of another

35:49

temporary house and work continues on

35:51

the one they're in. There's

35:53

good news for sisters Alia, Jamila and

35:56

Leanne in the hotel after

35:58

we contacted Redbridge Council. the

36:00

housing team visited the family. It's

36:03

now looking for self-contained accommodation for

36:05

them as a matter of urgency.

36:08

Nima had to go ahead with her operation.

36:11

She's managing as well as she can in the attic.

36:13

Her mum's written to the council asking to

36:16

be moved, but so far they've had no

36:18

word about that. Back

36:25

in Liverpool, Jack's seen the worst

36:28

and now perhaps the best of

36:30

temporary accommodation. The

36:37

Belvedere Family Centre feels a lot more like

36:40

home than any of the other places I've

36:42

seen. Jack's parents are

36:44

bidding for social housing. They haven't

36:46

been successful yet, but he's optimistic.

36:49

I'm able to be out of here soon. And

36:53

even if we're not unleashed, we've still got

36:55

a roof to live under and we just

36:57

play day by day that we can get

37:00

somewhere to live and start their new families

37:02

in. My last question for you, Jack, is,

37:04

it's a shocking number, but about 140,000 children

37:09

in England are homeless. So

37:11

you are sadly one of a very

37:13

big number. What would

37:15

you want politicians or whatever,

37:17

if they're listening to know about what

37:19

it's like? If the politicians are listening

37:21

right now, and I have to go back to the day of

37:24

this, you need to sort yourselves

37:26

out. 140,000

37:29

children in this country are suffering. You

37:31

need to sort yourself out and all

37:33

your politics. You

37:36

live in big mansions

37:38

or whatever. One of

37:40

the poor people are suffering. You need to do

37:43

something. You need to start building more stuff. So

37:45

none of us are homeless. We all need a

37:47

place to live. We need a life. This

37:50

File on Four podcast was

37:52

presented by Jane Deeth and

37:58

produced by Nicola Dowling. by

38:00

James Beard and Richard Hannaford. The production

38:02

coordinator was Jordan King and

38:04

the editors were Carl Johnston and Claire

38:06

Fordham. It was a BBC

38:08

long-form audio production for BBC Sounds where

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you can find more radio, music and

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podcasts. Hi I'm India Akersen

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exploring how the impact of birth on

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