The damning report found that children are being harmed by a homelessness system that is supposed to help. Children spoke of witnessing violence, vermin, isolation, ill health and financial penalties simply because their family could not find a home without the help of the local authority.  

‘In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation’ is a groundbreaking project led by world-leading experts at De Montfort University and University College London. The researchers spoke to children and their families currently trapped in Scotland’s broken and biased housing system.

The findings reveal the impact of temporary accommodation on children’s safety, health and education.

Speaking about the impact of crime, a son aged 14 said “Yeah, but not going to lie, I did get a bit scared after the stabbing that happened last night, there was a stabbing here.”

His sister, aged 17, added: “So apparently, I’m not fully sure, but apparently there was two gangs and there was a stabbing, and there was police everywhere.”

The mother of a six-year-old autistic child spoke of being hospitalised due to unsafe home they were placed in.

She said: “Twice he had to get referred back in (to hospital), and that was just because two environments were dirty, and that’s what I blame it on.”

The mother added: “…because he was told to be in a clean environment. And both times, both environments weren’t clean. And he ended up spewing blood from his mouth due to it, and that was an infection.

“So, yeah, in the six weeks he was in he lost about two and a half stone, it was quite scary. And obviously, because he is on the spectrum, trying to get a cannula in was quite, I had to pin him down, the nurses had to pin him down. And that was quite traumatic.”

The following exchange shows primary school-aged children speaking of the impact on their education of being forced miles away from their school.

Child: I was walking half an hour. 

Researcher: That’s quite a way, isn’t it? 

Mother: Yeah. And because in last year we had to change school, it was…. 

Child: November, on my birthday. 

Mother: Yes, on your birthday. And we had to change the school and it was really complicated and quite hard for them. So the most important thing was to keep the school, you know, for the kids. 

A 15-year-old child spoke about the impact that staying in a noisy environment has on their ability to focus in class:  

Researcher: So you didn’t sleep very well there because of the music and things, and then do you think that also affected how it was at school? 

Child: Yeah definitely. because I would fall asleep in class and stuff sometimes and it was harder. 

This new research comes just weeks after the Scottish Government’s own statistics showed that last year 15,474 children became homeless and there is now a record of 10,360 children trapped in temporary homes. Despite a promise by the Scottish Government to cut the number of households in temporary accommodation by the end of this parliament, the numbers have risen every year since the election. The number of children in temporary accommodation has increased by 149% since 2014.

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, said: “The findings of this research should shame us all. We, as a nation are failing those children trapped in our broken and biased homelessness system. Every child in Scotland has the right to grow up in a safe, secure and affordable home. Experiencing homelessness as a child should not be traumatic and filled with worry but it seems that for the 10,360 who will wake up tomorrow without a home, their problems feel never ending.

“Temporary accommodation forms an important part of people’s rights. Everyone experiencing homelessness should be given access to temporary housing while they await the outcome of their application. It should act as a safety net and a first step out of crisis, rather than causing a new crisis in itself. What has become clear from this research is that for children, unfortunately, their experience is all too often the latter.

“This research shows clearly that it is now more important than ever that all levels of government need to tackle the housing emergency and protect thousands of Scotland’s children from further harm.

“Children have bravely shared their experiences. Their stories don’t just demand to be heard — they demand urgent action. This is our wakeup call.”