Thousands of homeless British children are living in makeshift accommodation, including shipping containers and cramped former office blocks, putting their health at serious risk, according to a new report.

Research published on Wednesday by Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, reveals that 210,000 young people in homeless families are having to live in temporary housing.

Longfield believes that the housing system, which leaves thousands of families living in insecure places for long periods of time in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, is a “scandal.”

Something has gone very wrong with our housing system when children are growing up in B&Bs, shipping containers and old office blocks.



Longfield’s report titled ‘Bleak houses’ found that the main causes of family homelessness were two-fold. Firstly, the short supply of affordable housing and secondly financial instability, created by the UK government’s welfare changes that has seen severe cuts to benefits.

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Converted shipping containers are increasingly being used by councils to provide temporary housing for homeless families. Although they are seen as preferable to bed and breakfast accommodation, inhabitants complain that they are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.