![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_ABNM_MEN_08122022_MCA_44381JPG.jpg\")
Thousands in Greater Manchester are in temporary accommodation – but the best place for a child to stay is the school they already attend, experts say(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\nThousands of homeless Greater Manchester parents are facing a simple choice – but it’s a decision the Manchester Evening News believes no parent should make. That’s why we’re calling on the mayor to change things.Thousands in Greater Manchester are in temporary accommodation – but the best place for a child to stay is the school they already attend, experts say(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fate that\u2019s every parent\u2019s worst nightmare: No home, no money, and no school.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a fate thousands of Greater Manchester parents find themselves in this year.<\/p>\n
In spring, 5,412 households were homeless in temporary accommodation across the city, often miles from home.<\/p>\n
In these desperate circumstances, it\u2019s children who suffer most. That\u2019s why experts believe it\u2019s vital to keep them connected to their existing support networks at school.<\/p>\n
But homeless families can struggle to do that.<\/p>\n
Often, parents who watched their kids walk a few minutes to school now are asked to fork out for a bus ticket to get their loved ones to the classroom. It\u2019s a question that comes when parents are at their lowest.<\/p>\n
The law says schoolchildren can get free bus travel if they\u2019re moved more than two miles from home and there isn\u2019t another suitable school closer. But in Greater Manchester, it\u2019s almost impossible to be more than two miles from a school \u2014 so homeless parents face a horrible choice: Trying to find the money for buses they never needed to before, or move their child, if there is a place to begin with.<\/p>\n
The <\/strong>Manchester Evening News <\/strong>believes this is a dilemma no parent in temporary accommodation should have to face.<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s why the MEN is calling on Andy Burnham to implement a new bus pass that would give children in temporary accommodation free bus travel if they\u2019re moved more than a 30-minute walk from school.<\/strong><\/p>\n Please sign our petition here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s a move one mum, who spent five months in temporary accommodation last year, said would be a godsend.<\/p>\n When her home in Harpurhey<\/a> flooded last May, she became homeless. She was able to find temporary accommodation through Manchester council \u2014 but it was in Salford<\/a> Crescent.<\/p>\n That meant her 13-year-old daughter went from walking five minutes to school to needing two buses, which took an hour. Mum, who asked to stay anonymous, couldn\u2019t afford the \u00a310 weekly bus ticket.<\/p>\n Her daughter stayed in school because Manchester Communication Academy staff paid for her buses.<\/p>\n \u201cMy bills are extortionate,\u201d mum explained. \u201cI need to pay those and keep food in for the kids. The last thing on my mind is the bus fare. I used to live just across the road from school, so it was a five-minute walk for my daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we had the flood we got moved to Salford, I would not have the money to even meet my mum at the shopping centre. [My daughter] would have to take two buses from Salford and that would be 45 minutes with traffic to go in and out of town. She was only 13, so that was scary sending her to school on her own in an area we did not know.\u201d<\/p>\n Vicky Leigh, who works on the frontline supporting some of Manchester\u2019s poorest families at the Communication Academy, says a free bus pass \u2018would make such a difference\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have worked with almost 200 families over the past two years who have been affected by poor standards of accommodation and\/or at risk of homelessness,\u201d said Ms Leigh.<\/p>\n \u201cMany families are presented with Section 21 no fault evictions and are ending up placed into temporary accommodation which could be a significant distance from school.<\/p>\n \u201cWe currently have some families who have been placed into other Greater Manchester boroughs including Rochdale<\/a> and Oldham<\/a> and therefore travelling up to ten miles to school in the morning, having to catch a number of different buses.<\/p>\n \u201cThis presents a significant cost, unaffordable to many families.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it wasn’t for schools stepping in and supporting with travel costs, these children, who are already experiencing the trauma of being evicted and moved from the area they’ve grown up in, wouldn’t be able to get to school.<\/p>\n \u201cSchool can be the one thing that remains a constant and provides the support and stability children families need at such a difficult time in their life.<\/p>\n \u201cIf all children who were placed into temporary accommodation were provided with free bus or tram travel immediately, this would make such a difference for many families.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: \u201cEducation is the foundation that sets our young people up to fulfil their potential, and it\u2019s vital that we support them in those critical years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are doing a lot to make travel easier and more affordable for everyone in Greater Manchester, including children and young adults. That includes \u00a31 single bus fares, free travel for 16-18-year-olds, an extension of free travel for care leavers and, from next month, half price bus travel for 18-21-year-olds.<\/p>\n \u201cTransport for Greater Manchester is currently undertaking a broader review of concessions, considering all the requests for support that we get from a range of groups across the city-region, and the Mayor has asked them to ensure this is included.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_ABNM_MEN_08122022_MCA_44365JPG.jpg\")
Manchester Communication Academy helped the mum out with bus fares – but not every school can(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Launch-of-the-new-Stockport-Interchange.jpg\")
Andy Burnham took every bus service, and bus fares across Greater Manchester, into public control in January 2025(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n