CHILDREN under 16 in Wales have spoken for the first time about the impact of housing issues and homelessness on their lives, in a\u00a0report published today by the Children\u2019s Commissioner for Wales.<\/p>\n
The report reveals first-hand accounts of children living in cramped, unsafe and often dangerous conditions, with many describing the toll on their physical and mental health, as well as their education.<\/p>\n
When asked about their housing aspirations, children\u2019s answers included having a bookshelf, having a house free of mould, and having a home that made them feel comfortable.<\/p>\n
According to Welsh government data, 27 per cent of all households placed in temporary accommodation between April 2023 and March 2024 were families with children.<\/p>\n
A 10-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister told Commissioner Rocio Cifuentes: \u201cThere is a broken roof in mum\u2019s bedroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to put a bucket under it so my sister didn\u2019t get soaking in the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s mould on every window. It\u2019s too expensive. We can\u2019t afford the food and the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Describing their privately rented home, one young person said: \u201cMy house has dodgy wiring\u00a0and I can\u2019t plug anything in without being scared I\u2019d get injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
A young person living in social housing told the report that their \u201ccurrent home is damp.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels as if the mould and damp is making me unwell\u201d and the \u201cwalls are wet to touch,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Ms Cifuentes said: \u201cWe\u2019ve heard clearly the weight all of this can place on young shoulders \u2014\u00a0a weight no child should have to bear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She urged the Welsh government to revise all housing and homelessness guidance to ensure compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child\u00a0and to put children\u2019s views at the heart of future policy development.<\/p>\n
End Youth Homelessness Cymru\u2019s Bill Rowlands said: \u201cThis report shines a light on the fact that in Wales currently far too many children and young people are having to face housing insecurities, inappropriate housing and housing that is frankly unsafe.<\/p>\n
\u201cAction is needed and is needed now, to ensure that we don\u2019t condemn another generation of children and young people to face similar experiences to those highlighted in this report.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Welsh government was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHILDREN under 16 in Wales have spoken for the first time about the impact of housing issues and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,6331,4884,6332,6333,6334,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-9302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-child-poverty","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-homelessness","12":"tag-housing","13":"tag-housing-crisis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114316310524665348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}