Toxic mold, cold and lack of space. NGO criticizes ‘temporary residence’ conditions for children in London

In a 51-page report, there are many testimonies, including that of a pregnant woman who was forced to live with three children in a studio.

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Children in London are growing up in precarious and uninhabitable ‘temporary housing’ as a result of the persistent failure of government and local government policies, organizations warn Human Rights Watch and Childhood Trust in a joint report published Monday.

Between May and October 2021, Human Rights Watch interviewed 75 people, including 33 who had been living in or had recently moved out of temporary housing in various London neighborhoods that authorities had provided while they waited for social housing, which could take years.

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Those interviewed described conditions such as toxic mould, cold temperatures, a lack of adequate space and poor conditions that British humanitarian organizations consider a violation of the right to adequate housing and children’s rights to an adequate standard of living.

The 51-page report includes numerous testimonies, including from Amaka L. , a pregnant mother with three other children – aged four, seven and nine – was forced to live for six months in 2020 in a studio in Lambeth, south of the capital. , whose room was “so small that everyone had to share a double bed”.

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London Council in Southwark is said to have placed Lily W. and her four daughters, aged between 6 and 26, in a three-bedroom house between 2017 and 2019, where toxic mold caused respiratory problems in her youngest daughter, who was diagnosed with her injury. “Asthma as well as the need for an operation to help with irregular breathing.”

In Wandsworth, Jada T. , a 15-year-old girl, developed pneumonia from a cold that crept through cracks in the walls of the building where she was placed with her family between 2018 and 2020, and eventually moved from London temporarily to recover, which led to two months without going to school.

The two organizations responsible for the report blamed cuts in government funding for local authorities as well as a lack of social housing, noting that municipalities are obligated under English law to guarantee temporary housing for people at risk of homelessness, or who have recently become homeless.

According to the study, the number of families in temporary housing has increased by 65% ​​since 2011. As of October 2021, 42,290 families were living in temporary housing in London.

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“The government urgently needs to address this hidden aspect of the housing crisis, reduce dependence on temporary housing and tackle the problem of unsuitable housing for families to live in.”said Alex Firth, Human Rights Watch coordinator and one of the report’s authors.

Lawrence Guinness, director of the Children’s Fund, lamented that children are suffering “horrific violations of their rights with dire consequences for health, education and life chances”.