On 20 March, Emma appeared on the BBC’s Inside Out programme to talk about the housing crisis and how it is impacting on children. You can find the link here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04xjvml

Housing is an issue that is close to my heart. In the programme, I return to my childhood street to visit the council flat I lived in with my mom. Before we got our council flat, my mom and I were homeless due to family breakdown. We were lucky that the council found us a new home after only a few weeks of staying with friends. I was too young to appreciate what my mom was going through but I know that she was incredibly relieved when we were safe and warm in our own home.

I fear that if I were a young child homeless with my mom today we would not be housed so quickly. Instead we would be likely to find ourselves in so called ‘temporary accommodation,’ such as a bed and breakfast, which gives children and adults no stability and little security. The government is simply not doing enough to build homes, particularly homes for social rent.

March 2017