‘My children never had a place they could say was home’: the UK family in temporary housing for 22 years

Melissa’s children are now adults, but since 2002 the family has been stuck in so-called temporary accommodation in London

• Read more: homeless children spending entire lives in temporary housing in England

When Melissa’s parents moved abroad in 2002, she and her one-year-old child needed help to find a place to live. Her local London council placed her in temporary accommodation. “They told me I’d be in it for six weeks,” she said. “I’m still in it today.”

Shocking as it may seem, the housing crisis and lack of affordable rents in some parts of the UK mean a growing number of people have spent huge chunks of their lives in temporary accommodation. For some children, it is all they have known.