More than 310,000 children forced to share a bed with parents or siblings

More than 310,000 children in England are forced to share beds with other family members due to severe overcrowding caused by a critical shortage of affordable homes, according to a new report from the National Housing Federation.

The research, based on data from the English Housing Survey, found that one in every six children are forced to live in cramped conditions with no personal space because their family cannot access a suitable and affordable home. This equates to two million children from 746,000 families.

The findings also showed that households from ethnic minority backgrounds are three times more likely to be affected by overcrowding than white households.

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.

The report included polling carried out by Savanta which revealed the detrimental impact that living in overcrowded conditions had on the health, wellbeing and daily lives of those affected.

Findings included:

• 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 National Housing Federation (NHF), which represents housing associations, said the main cause of overcrowding in England was 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 could not afford any other type of home. They make up almost half 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 of overcrowded families live in private rented homes.

In 2010 the government cut funding for affordable housing by 63%, the biggest cut to any capital budget at the time. It also cut all funding for new homes at social rents, leading to a rapid decline in the number of new social homes being built, intensifying an already existing shortage.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the NHF, said: ‘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.’

Image: Annie Spratt