When women with children are made homeless – usually by either rent arrears, after no-fault evictions or domestic violence – they are often moved into temporary accommodation. The latest figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities reveal there are presently 104,510 households and 131,000 children living in temporary accommodation in England.
Sometimes this lack of a permanent place to call home is not so temporary. In Greater Manchester, specifically, homeless families spend on average two years in temporary accommodation. During that period, they can be moved multiple times, at very short notice and across boroughs.
For children experiencing homelessness, school is often seen as the one steady, safe environment. And yet, being moved to temporary accommodation can often cause extensive disruption to schooling too. In 2023, the homelessness charity, Shelter, surveyed 1,112 respondents living in temporary accommodation. It found that almost half (47%) of families surveyed with school-age children had needed to change their schools due to being moved far from their previous home. One in five (19%) children had to travel more than an hour to get to school.
