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‘I had to live in one room with my daughter for 11 years’
i speaks to homeless families who are being housed in hostels in London 'temporarily' - only to be left there for years
England’s Lane Residence is in the London borough of Camden, a stone’s throw from some of the capital’s wealthiest and most exclusive neighbourhoods. Belsize Park sits just minutes away in one direction, Hampstead and Primrose Hill in others.
At first glance, you might not notice the 165-room building. Red brick, with white framed windows and surrounded by shiny black wrought iron railings, it doesn’t resemble what you might think of as temporary accommodation. While not technically a hostel in legal terms, the conditions inside comprise of small, self-contained studio units where homeless families are being housed for as long as 11 years, which is anything but “temporary”.
England faces a social housing shortage and, as a result, the number of families in temporary accommodation is rising. The most recent quarterly statistics recorded 83,700 households – including 124,490 children – in temporary accommodation at the end of December 2018. That’s a 74 per cent increase since December 2010. Sixty eight per cent of these households were placed by London local authorities
In the summer of 2008, 45 year-old Khadija*, a part time cleaner from Camden, was fleeing domestic violence. As a result she, like so many women who flee abusive partners but cannot afford the prices in the private rented sector, became homeless. “I applied as homeless to Camden Council in June that year,” she tells i. “My daughter was only four and we were given a room at England’s Lane.”
The unit they were given comprised of a bedroom, bathroom and a small kitchenette. The rooms were originally designed for single nurses working at the nearby Royal Free hospital. They were never designed for families
Khadija’s daughter is now 15. “The Council accepted a duty to house me, but I was not told how long this would take,” she says. “I never could have expected I would spend 11 years living in that room.” She has recently been moved to a small flat owned by a housing association. “This is definitely an improvement, but I have been told that it is still only temporary. I don’t know how long I am going to have to live here, and how long it is going to be before my daughter finally has a settled home. She is starting her GCSEs and stability is important for her. She’s lived almost her entire life in temporary accommodation. We just want a place that we can call home.”
Being moved into temporary accommodation has been found to have a serious impact on people’s mental and physical health. A report by Shelter concluded it can trigger depression, an increase in visits to doctors and hospitals because residents become more vulnerable to diseases like bronchitis and tuberculosis, as well as falling levels of self esteem.
Khadija is not alone. Siobhan*, 30, has lived at England’s Lane for nine years. She was moved here when she was three months pregnant with her son, who is now eight years old.
“I was told I would only be here a couple of months,” she tells i. “I was pregnant, I was gullible, I was desperate. Now I’m depressed and miserable. I’m 30 and I’m no longer with my son’s dad because it wasn’t a good relationship. But I can’t have a partner here. I share a bedroom with my son, the kitchen is in that bedroom and guests have to leave by 11pm. I feel like I’m 14. I pay my rent, I should be able to have someone to stay over but I can’t. My life is on hold.”
I also spoke to another single mother in her forties, Imelda* a former part-time language teacher who was placed at Levine and Abbotts Hostel with her two children in late 2012. At the time, her son was nine and her daughter was one.
Seven years later, she is still there. Unlike Khadija, Imelda’s room does not have an en-suite bathroom and her family must go up a flight of stairs if they wish to use the toilet.
A home without stigma
“Being here makes me feel guilty as a parent,” she says. “I feel like I’m not providing for my children. All I want is a home where I can invite the kids’ friends over for play dates without the stigma of being looked down on for living in a hostel.”
Beyond the repercussions to family life and the health of mothers and their children, housing people in this way is costly. Derek Bernardi is a senior solicitor-advocate at the Camden Community Law Centre. He notes that Khadija’s room was £256.80 a week. Over 11 years, that’s £146.889.60. As she was working, earning £820 a month as a cleaner, she was liable to pay £388.57 a month out of her own wages, which is almost half of what she earned.
More than this, though, Bernardi is currently representing 15 clients, all of whom have children – some with disabilities – and have been placed in temporary accommodation in the borough between 2008 and 2013 for what he deems to be an “unlawful” period of time. So far, he has sent provisional letters on their behalf to the Council and would like to see a judicial review of their cases.
“All of my clients are in the same situation,” he tells i. “They have spent long periods of time in temporary accommodation with no end in sight.”
Bernardi says the case he is pursuing against the Council is simple: “[That] Camden has failed to rehouse these families within a reasonable amount of time, that they have failed to comply with their legal duties in relation to the needs of children and people with disabilities, and that their policies constitute unlawful discrimination against the homeless.
He says Camden’s housing policies are partly to blame. “Because homeless families are restricted from getting points under almost all categories of Camden’s bidding system (for example, they are not entitled to points for overcrowding, fleeing violence, disrepair, being a care leaver etc) it would literally take them at least 20 to 40 years to build up enough points to successfully bid for a council property.”
“Our clients’ children are being born and raised in homeless hostel-type accommodation,” he adds. “They have nowhere to do their homework, or to invite their friends over, or simply to have their own private space. Unless something is done about it, then there will be no end to this disgraceful situation
Camden Council has a lease on England’s Lane. England’s Lane has now been sold to a private developer. Residents have been told they will be moved out by 2021, but where they will be rehoused remains to be seen.
For the growing number of families living in temporary accommodation, what Imelda calls the “soul-destroying” limbo can last for years. With a diminished social housing stock, all they can do is hold on.
Camden Council told i: “In 2004 there were more than 2,000 households in temporary accommodation placed by Camden – we’ve now reduced this number to 500.
“The Council’s allocation scheme was introduced in 2016 following extensive public consultation. We work hard to ensure that we are providing the best possible advice and services to people in housing need at all times
“We do not consider it appropriate to make comments about individual cases which are still in the pre-action stage, and which may become the subject of legal proceedings.”
Councillor Meric Apak, Cabinet Member for Better Homes, said: “Our first priority always is to prevent homelessness and we have been leaders in this throughout London and beyond. We have a robust Housing Allocations policy. However, due to the extremely high demand for our limited supply of social housing we are not able to guarantee all homeless households an offer of a council home. When this is not possible, we provide suitable alternative accommodation.
“We are always available to have conversations to help families move on to longer term, settled housing from the available supply, regardless of how long they have been living in temporary accommodation.”