9th All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation meeting.
Meeting topic: Parliamentary launch of the report “It’s like torture: Life in Temporary Accommodation for Neurodivergent Children and their Families”
Date: 09/02/2025
Time: 15.30 – 16.30
Location: Room 17, Palace of Westminster
Joint Secretariats: Shared Health Foundation (SHF) and Justlife (JL)
Attendees in person:
Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP (Mitchem & Morden, Labour), Margaret Mullane MP (Dagenham and Rainham, Labour), Prof Katherine Brickell (King’s College London), Dr Rosalie Warnock (King’s College London), Agatha and Elizabeth Phiri (Lived Experience), Emily Palmer (MHCLG), Emma Bowen (MHCLG), Amanda Rosestorf (Autistica), Clare Vincent (King’s College London), Claire Davis (King’s College London), Mhairi-Jean Ross (Sensory Lives RA), Karen Torres (IRMO), Samuel Thomas (Z2K), Niki Lampaski (Housing Inclusion Hackney), Rachel Nkiessu-Guifo (Housing Inclusion Hackney), Sandra Addae (JoshyBoy Legacy), Ysabella Hawkins (Camden), Neelam Kumar (Camden), Roxanna Glennon (Brent), Ian Swift (Islington), Jocasta Kelsey (Civic Nest), Catherine Virdee (Civic Nest), Kath Swindells (Inside Housing), Thea Grattidge (GT Stewart), Clémence Coignard (GT Stewart), Amarjit Bains (Bridges Outcomes Partnership), Deborah Garvie (Shelter), Fiona McLeod (Shelter), Gifty Amponsah (The Magpie Project), Fabio Serrato Radigonda (King’s College London), Luis Alberto Balboa Conoen (King’s College London), Dr Priti Dipak Mohandas (King’s College London), Jiawen Zhang (King’s College London), Fraser Curry (King’s College London), Alison May (Consultant), Nina Kowalska (Consultant), Anja Blazewicz (Cardinal Hume), Dave Saunders (Cardinal Hume),George O’Neill (Cardinal Hume), Kim Farlow (Homestart), Josie Atkins (Homestart), Srilata Sircar (King’s College London), Alan Morton, Beth Adams (Childhood Trust), Rebecca Walker (Caris Families), Isabel Kaner (SHF), Iva Pehlivanova (SHF), Morgan Tebbs (Justlife), David McGregor (Justlife), Ben Orna-Ornstein (Justlife), Saoirse Herbert Barry (Justlife), Mark Phillippo (Justlife)
Panellists:
Prof Katherine Brickell, Professor of Urban Studies, King’s College London
Dr Rosalie Warnock, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, King’s College London
Agatha Phiri, Lived Experience
Elizabeth Phiri, Lived Experience
Meeting
Siobhain McDonagh MP, Chair of the APPG:
Welcomes and introduces Prof Katherine Brickell and Dr Rosalie Warnock, authors of the report.
Professor Katherine Brickell, Professor of Urban Studies, King’s College London:
It’s a real privilege to be here at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation and the APPG has been a real tour de force in shining a consistent light on the conditions facing families who are just too often unheard.
We’d like to thank the Shared Health Foundation, Justlife, Autistica and the parents, the carers, the practitioners, the young people who submitted their contributions and the courage that shaped this report that we have here before us.
Now, this report really does matter, because if we want to understand whether a system is functioning, we need to look closely at how it treats its children. So by that measure, temporary accommodation in the UK is gravely failing neurodivergent children. As we know, there are 172,000 children in England alone who are growing up in environments that are typically overcrowded, unstable, poorly regulated and in many cases unsafe. These conditions harm all children, but our evidence shows that neurodivergent children experience them acutely distressing, overwhelming and traumatising.
There were 61 submissions to the national call for evidence, including testimony from parents, carers, practitioners, and we gathered more than 280 detailed accounts describing the sensory, psychological, educational, safeguarding and financial consequences of living in temporary accommodation. What was striking was the consistency of what we heard. Many families told us that for neurodivergent children, temporary accommodation feels like torture.
It’s a language that families themselves used to describe their daily lives, and it’s a reality that demands urgent political attention, which is why this APPG and all the efforts here are so important. Families describe relentless sensory and emotional harm. So, temporary accommodation can often be loud, it can be brightly lit, it can be smelly, it can be cramped, and unpredictable.
For neurodivergent children whose nervous systems process sound, light touch and uncertainty in different ways, these environments can feel unbearable. Parents describe children who could not sleep because of noise, lighting, or fear. Children who lost the ability to self-regulate, becoming withdrawn, hyper-vigilant or panic-stricken. Some children were driven to self-harm, so one young person explained that they were so overwhelmed by snoring and sensory overload at night that they scratched themselves to the extent that they cried. And families, this was quite telling, use words such as “open prison”, “horrific” and “unrelenting” to describe their daily experiences. So many of these environments are not just distressing, but they are actually dangerous. Families encountered unsecured windows in high-rise buildings, hazardous staircases, exposed gas hobs within easy reach of children with limited danger awareness, shared spaces with vulnerable adults and housing affected by damp, infestations and, in one instance, sewage leaks.
For neurodivergent children with sensory needs, mobility challenges or conditions such as Pica, for example, where children may eat wires, these situations are not merely unsuitable; they’re actively life-threatening. And we have an infographic in the report that describes all the different risks and hazards that we could identify in the call for evidence. And I think this is really important for local authorities to take away, discuss and act on.
The harms extended to education and health. Because temporary accommodation often involves multiple moves between boroughs, neurodivergent children frequently fell off waiting lists for diagnostic assessments, lost access to the Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service, which is known as CAMHS, lost access to speech and language therapy, to occupational therapy and to specialist services, and they often saw their Education, Health and Care Plan, so their EHC Plan, interrupted or downgraded when they moved across a borough line. Many missed extended periods of schooling, and long journeys from temporary accommodation triggered sensory overload that made school attendance extremely difficult. Parents told us repeatedly that the educational disruption their children experienced would affect them for the rest of their lives. And these pressures understandably affected whole families. And so in the report, we advocate for a whole families approach to looking at these experiences. Siblings sharing beds or rooms far beyond safe ages, some families being separated because the accommodation was too small or unsafe for those family members to remain together, including siblings. Parents were unable to work, rest or meet the basic needs of their children. Many parents, sometimes neurodivergent themselves, describe feeling disbelieved and dismissed by the systems around them. Caring responsibilities increased to unmanageable levels, and the emotional toll, as you can understand, on parents was profound.
A central finding of this report is that the system is not simply stretched. It is structured in a way that produces predictable harm. Housing, education, health and social care systems operate in silos with minimal communication, if anything, between them. Housing offices are making decisions with profound consequences for children’s wellbeing, but too often without training in neurodiversity or trauma-informed practice. And that is also around training, for example, in allocations. Temporary accommodation providers lack consistent guidelines or regulatory standards that would enable them to protect vulnerable children. Families are left navigating multiple bureaucracies that do not recognise the specific vulnerabilities of neurodivergent children.
When the state repeatedly places children in conditions that undermine their health, their development, safety and education, and when those harms are known and avoidable, we must ask whether this is simply the result of poor policy, or whether it amounts to systemic child cruelty.
Dr Rosalie Warnock, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, King’s College London:
The recommendations in the report set out a clear and constructive path for change. Overarching this is our call for the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law. Doing so would ensure that every housing and homelessness decision considers a child’s right to safety, education, play, stability and protection from harm. This already exists in Scotland, and England, Wales and Northern Ireland should follow suit.
Further to this, we have five key asks. There are many recommendations set out in the report, but these are our five key ones. First, we are asking that the Homelessness Code of Guidance has a new chapter on children. So this is currently a glaring omission in this guidance. And this chapter must include guidance on supporting homeless neurodivergent children. Additionally, the code currently only refers to physical disabilities and mental health illnesses when assessing the suitability of accommodation as a qualification for priority needs, so it does not include neurodivergence as a qualification for priority need, and this should be rectified across the code.
Second, we need to address the serious data gaps. Currently, government homelessness statistics provide no information about neurodivergent children in TA. Without data, effective policy is impossible. We recommend adding neurodiversity fields to H-CLIC and ensuring that the SAFE Protocol is implemented so schools and GPs are notified when a child becomes homeless, so it’s great that this is in the process. On H-CLIC, we’re keen to work with a local authority to pilot this, recording this extra data, so if there’s a local authority here that would like to be at the forefront of policy change, then please let us know.
Third, we recommend mandatory neurodiversity and trauma-informed training for housing offices so they can conduct meaningful housing needs assessments, recognise sensory and safety requirements, avoid placements that are predictably harmful, and be part of productive, multi-agency teams in local authorities. Our recommendations here also include thorough inspections of temporary accommodation before a family with a neurodivergent child is expected to move into that property. Best practice should also extend to housing officers sitting on EHCP assessment panels. These recommendations are all in line with the new Duty to Collaborate, set out in the 2025 National Plan to End Homelessness.
Fourth, we recommend reducing out-of-area placements for families and, given the acute need for continuity of education and health support for neurodivergent children in particular, to prioritise neurodivergent children for in-area placements. The Local Government Association’s Out of Area Protocol, which recommends this, should be urgently updated and strengthened. And there should also be a minimum notice period for non-emergency temporary accommodation moves.
Fifth, placing children and families in B&Bs and hostels should be a never event, full stop. In the immediate term, ensuring that the six-week legal limit to stays in hotels and B&Bs is enforced is essential, with priority given to neurodivergent children. This is because the safeguarding risks of placing neurodivergent children in mixed accommodation with shared facilities, like B&Bs and hostels, are even higher. In almost all emergency accommodation and many other forms of temporary accommodation, visitor bans prevent parents from accessing respite or support from a trusted adult. Relaxing visitor bans in all forms of temporary accommodation is essential for keeping children safe, and this is especially the case for single parents. Continuing to place vulnerable families in mixed accommodation of any kind without respite and in full knowledge of risks could have fatal consequences, and this practice must end immediately.
Finally, we propose reducing financial pressures on families by introducing targeted income maximisation programmes for those with disabled and neurodivergent children living in temporary accommodation, and we are currently piloting this with Camden Council. Additionally, we recommend the setting up of a sensory needs fund to support the additional costs of raising disabled or neurodivergent children in temporary accommodation specifically.
So before we close, we want to highlight that our report should be used alongside the work of Impact on Urban Health. They’ve just published 2026 Legal Guidance, which is an essential resource for families, legal professionals, councils and wider services supporting people in temporary accommodation with neurodivergent children. So together, our report and their legal guidance provide both the lived experience evidence and the practical legal frameworks needed to drive meaningful and lawful change. And used side by side, they offer a powerful foundation for transforming the system’s response to neurodivergent children and families. And there will be specific targeted training coming out of this research at a later date for local authority housing officers and support services.
We just want to end by expressing our gratitude to every parent, carer, practitioner, child and young person who has contributed to this work, to date. Their testimonies are at the heart of everything we’ve presented today, and their words carry the moral weight of lived experience.
To the parliamentarians and policymakers here today, you have the power to act on these findings, and you have before you a set of clear recommendations that could transform the lives of thousands of children. Temporary accommodation should never result in permanent harm. And let this report be the moment we commit to ensuring it no longer does. Thank you.
Siobhain McDonagh MP:
Thank you both very much.
Thank you, Agatha, for being brave enough to come and tell us about your lived experience. And your daughter is Elizabeth. And welcome, Elizabeth, for your testimony as well.
Agatha Phiri, Lived Experience:
My name is Agatha Phiri. I’m a Founder and Director of Agatha’s Space, a community organisation supporting women living with HIV and those forbidden to work due to their immigration status. At Agatha’s Space, we mentor women by helping them to build their confidence and develop skills and access volunteer opportunities to build their UK work experience. I’m not here to talk about myself or what I do, but I wanted you to know that this single mother, who is being punished by the system, is contributing greatly to the economy of this country for free. I’ve lived in the UK for 17 years. 14 of those years, I was pushing for my immigration status. But all those years of volunteering and hard work were erased by the Home Office, so I have been in the UK for two and a half years.
I received my Leave to Remain decision in 2023, but little did I know that that freedom was going to land us in homelessness. We were given seven days of eviction notice. Then Oldham Council gave us an address 30 miles from my daughter’s school. There was no public transport, so I booked taxis every single day. It was costing me £35 one way and another £35 back. Plus food, I was spending over £100 a day. I had just started working, and my pay was only £1,000. £100 a day was too much for me. I asked the school if I could take Elizabeth out of school until my situation was stable, but they said no. They took over the taxi responsibility, but they said it was only going to be for three days.
I decided to take action. I wrote my story on Twitter and tagged every council leader. Before an hour passed, the leader of Oldham Council contacted me. They asked me to pack all my belongings the following morning, but never gave me the address to go to. I was stuck at my daughter’s school in the morning, at the playground with my bags hanging around. Later, they sent me an address to a small, tiny room in the middle of Oldham town centre.
The room was designed for a 2 to 3-day short stay, but we stayed there for over a year. We were opposite a drug dealer’s rehabilitation centre, so all the drug dealers smoked, drank and took drugs on my window. Police were there day and night, and noise was a non-starter. There were fights, door banging and all chaotic activities every single day. We were not allowed guests, so we celebrated birthdays the two of us, in a single tiny room. Elizabeth has ADHD and suspected autism. She has sensory issues, and noise affects her a lot. She says her body hurts when it’s loud. But this room was a headquarters of noise. I complained, but nobody cared. Elizabeth was late to school every single day, and she missed her lessons. She is going through a lot right now. She has been referred to a lot of mental health support, and her support team says this is due to her traumatic experiences in the temporary accommodation.
Seven months ago, we were given a home. We were told it was permanent. We believed that this was the start of our stable life after 17 years. But before we could settle, I am due for my two and a half year Leave to Remain application. I need £4,900 to pay the Home Office to allow me to stay in this country for another two and a half years. I’ll be doing this until 2032. Part of this money is my contribution towards the NHS, even though I already contribute through my National Insurance every month. I am an immigrant. I have to pay again. This means I pay twice for my healthcare. I don’t have £4,900. I’m a single parent with no financial support from anyone, so I have applied for a fee waiver. I applied for a fee waiver last week; I’m just waiting for a decision. If I am refused and I can’t pay that by the 26th of February this year, I will lose my status, and I will end up being homeless again by next month.
Children like Elizabeth, who have special needs, cannot cope with repeated moves, fear and uncertainty. Temporary accommodation damages their mental health and their future. I am kindly asking you to make the right decisions for children with special needs to protect them from mental health and to protect them from being homeless. And please stop punishing children because their parents were not born here. Thank you.
Elizabeth Phiri, Lived Experience:
My name is Elizabeth Phiri. I am nine years old, and I’m in Year 5. My mum said that if talking about the traumatic experiences I had in temporary accommodation will trigger me, I should not talk about it. I do not want to be triggered, so I will not talk about it. But I have questions for you all.
My school friends worry about homework, spelling tests or even being told off by the teacher. But I worry about finding my mother dead one day because of stress and anxiety caused by the policies you make. I worry if I’ll have a permanent home. I worry about the immigration policies you make that want children like me homeless. I worry if my future matters in your decision-making. My question is, I hear children are the future, but does this future include migrant children like me? If you had a special child like me, what would you want their future to start like?
Lastly, if my future matters, why does it feel like you are blocking it? If I am late to school every day and missing lessons and fail to live a life like a normal child because I am homeless, how will my future be bright? Thank you.
Questions from the room
Siobhain McDonagh MP:
Final remarks and thanks.
Meeting concluded at 4:30 pm.