Taking part in Lib Dem Conference online (I cannot make it to Brighton, so watching and voting online) it was good to see the first policy motion was about homeless children, although tragic that we have to discuss the subject at all

You can see below more about it, but it covered the awful issues there are for children, as well of course as their parents and other adults.  Shocking to hear that There are over 176,000 children living in temporary accommodation across England, and that Since 2019, 104 children have died with temporary accommodation listed as a contributing factor to their death, 76 of whom were under the age of one, with deaths attributed to causes including lack of access to cots and Moses baskets, overcrowding, poverty and the chaos of homelessness.

Excellent and moving speeches, amendments adding important issues. The motion as amended is here.

The next step of course is for those in power to take note, and actually do something about it.

It brought back memories of the mid 1990’s when there were homeless families here in Stockton on Tees in Council accommodation.  My involvement started when I found out that play schemes for the holidays would not include these children.  I was horrified and with a lot of support, and a quickly made grant from the Church Urban Fund a play scheme was started for the summer.

As you can imagine it didn’t end there, with parents asking, what now? A project started with a lot of “challenges”.  The Labour Councillors in charge would not support it any way, and were upset when we got more funding, even though we weren’t a registered charity.  But with the backing of some good council officers (we held meetings at lunchtime so they could attend in their own time), one good labour councillor friend, other friends and churches, we went ahead.  Not just play schemes in school holidays, but activities for parents and under 5’s, and a creche so parents could attend courses.  At the playscheme we had lunch, all sat at tables with knives and forks.  For years afterwards I would meet a mum who said thanks for the opportunity given to her to do some training that had led to her career.  But the downside was that after a few years the revolving door started.  We were seeing the same families that had been housed, back again.  For all sorts of reasons, domestic violence,  family breakdown,  inability to budget as crises hit. 

If I had been able to be at conference I would have liked to stand and speak up about more provision of social housing (which I strongly support) but more support is needed for many of the families to deal with the challenges and crises that 30 years later are still thrown at them.

Nearly 20 years later I was involved again, this time with housing issues that asylum seekers had, housed in Home Office provided by a local notorious property company. Some of the conditions were awful and as usual children had the worst impact, very difficult to access flats, no stair gates in some places, filthy carpets and drawers having to be used for cots.  It was hard work taking all up with G4S and the Home Office, but eventually a much better housing provider got the contract here, if not elsewhere.

If I had been at conference I would have like to stand up and speak about our party pressing for what is already party policy, just not talked about:

“All future government-tendered contracts for asylum-seekers’ housing should be rewritten to ensure that the public sector can compete for them; that housing conditions which compromise human dignity will be grounds for termination; and that existing specific laws on rental housing standards will be fully applicable.”

Finally another issue, young people being locked up in adult immigration detention centres.  I can understand why it was not taken, it was not central to the motion on children in homeless accommodation, but if it was and If I had been at conference I would have like to stand up and speak about the following:

“Members of the Independent Monitoring Boards have officially raised serious concerns about hundreds of children being detained in adult immigration detention centres as part of the UK-France “one in, one out” scheme, including weak safeguarding, poor access to legal advice, and prolonged detention.

31% of resolved age disputes are found to be children, and two children waited over 40 days for assessment. Children are being wrongly placed in the adult asylum system before their age is resolved, denying them essential safeguards.

Add 8. End placing all age disputed children seeking asylum in adult immigration detention centres.”

But of course if I had said all this, it would have taken up the whole debating time in an excellent debate.  I’d still like all of these demands to be taken forward though.

* Suzanne Fletcher was a councillor for nearly 30 years and a voluntary advice worker with the CAB for 40 years. Now retired, she is active as a campaigner in the community both as a Lib Dem and with local organisations and author of "Bold as Brass?", the story of Brass Crosby.