No place like home

Catherine Gaunt
Wednesday, August 21, 2002

Thousands of children struggle with the effects of living in temporary and substandard housing. Catherine Gaunt looks at moves to help them Can you imagine living in a room so small and cramped that your two-year-old child has been unable to learn how to crawl? Or being the mother of a one-year-old living in a flat so damp that not only do you both suffer constant colds, but you cannot leave your child's cuddly toys out because they will be covered in mould within days? These examples may sound extreme, but they are cases that the campaigning charity Shelter has uncovered in the course of its work with the homeless. In fact, according to research Shelter published earlier this year, growing up in cramped conditions with no room to play is a reality for 100,000 homeless children in England alone.