310,000 children in overcrowded homes forced to share a bed with parents or siblings
This is according to a new report published today by the National Housing Federation.
More than 310,000 children (313,244) in England are forced to share beds with other family members, due to severe overcrowding, caused by a critical shortage of affordable homes. This is according to a new report published today by the National Housing Federation.
The research reveals that one in every six children are being forced to live in cramped conditions with no personal space because their family cannot access a suitable and affordable home.
Families are considered to be overcrowded if more than two children under the age of 10 are sharing a room, two teenagers of different sexes are sharing a room, or two adults (aged 16 years or over), who are not in a relationship, are sharing a room.iii
The report includes polling carried out by Savanta which reveals the detrimental impact that living in overcrowded conditions has on the health, wellbeing and daily lives of those affected.
In just under half (41%) of overcrowded homes, children or teenagers are sharing a bedroom with their parents. This could affect more than 300,000 families and half a million children, including 142,000 teenagers.
A quarter of parents in overcrowded homes are regularly forced to sleep in a living room, bathroom, hallway or kitchen because of the lack of space. This affects 180,000 families.
Parents in more than half (53%) of overcrowded homes worry that their children are too embarrassed to bring friends home. This could affect more than one million children.
In almost half (48%) of overcrowded homes, children struggle to do their homework because of the lack of space. This could affect 900,000 children.
Over two thirds (70%) of overcrowded families say they have experienced both poor mental and poor physical health as a direct result of overcrowding. This could affect over half a million families.
The leading cause of overcrowding in England is a chronic shortage of social housing. Families already living in social housing are the most likely to be overcrowded as there are no larger social homes available for them to move to and they cannot afford any other type of home. They make up around half (48%) of all overcrowded families. Families on low incomes who cannot access a social home are forced to rent privately, where rents can be more than double that of social housing, meaning many cannot afford a suitable sized home. A third (33%) of overcrowded families live in private rented homes.
Kate Henderson, Chief Executive at the National Housing Federation says:
"Our homes are meant to be places of comfort, safety and security. For children growing up in overcrowded homes they instead become chaotic and stressful environments with little personal space or privacy. This can have a devastating impact on a child’s self-esteem, wellbeing, and future life changes, as well as affecting family relationships and making it harder for parents to nurture their child’s growth.
"Every child deserves the right to have a home that is suitable for their needs and allows them to grow as individuals. Overcrowding is a direct result of our broken housing system, caused by underfunding by successive governments and a failure to prioritise building new homes for people on low incomes. As a country, we are failing these families and these children and this must stop. We need an urgent, long term, national plan aimed at drastically increasing the number of affordable and social homes across England."
In Cumbria, MP Tim Farron believes the situation is aggravated by homes being bought as holiday lets or second houses.
He said: "In Westmorland, the lakes and the dales the average house price is between 10 and 12 times higher than the average household salary, and banks aren't meant to lend you a mortgage for more than three and a half times your average salary. It means the average person is completely stuffed.
"We're seeing an enormous council house waiting list of over 6000 people just in south lakeland and much bigger when you look beyond in the rest of Cumbria.
"Houses that we have are being gobbled up by people that don't live in them. 80 per cent of homes bought in the early stages of the pandemic in our area were in the second home market.
"Our housing, including our social housing, are massively over-demanded. There's too many people wanting into them so there's people in houses that aren't the right size for them. You end up with families of six in two and three bedroom houses."