Rough Sleeping: Families with Children

Rachel Gilmour Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) for securing this debate and for her tireless work on tackling homelessness.

The crippling cost of living, sky-high private rents and the lack of social housing in the UK mean that far too many people have no option other than to spend the night on the street. We hear reports of people sleeping in cars, pregnant women turned away from support by their local councils, and children as young as four years old forced to sleep rough. In the sixth richest country in the world, those are despicable reminders of how broken our system is. We know the detrimental effect that sleeping rough and housing insecurity can have on children’s health, education and life chances.

The trauma of living in insecure, temporary and often dangerous conditions can have lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, housing stability and economic prospects. Children experiencing homelessness face increased rates of infection, asthma and sleep deprivation, high rates of anxiety, depression and behavioural issues, and a higher likelihood of being exposed to violence, crime and the risk of sexual assault. The streets are no place for children to be sleeping. It has a knock-on effect across other areas of children’s lives: disrupted education, increased school drop-out rates and children forced to hide their situation, leading to social exclusion. We must do better.

A huge driver of homelessness and rough sleeping is the current unaffordability of the private rented sector. Two weeks ago, the Welsh Affairs Committee heard evidence from Shelter Cymru, Cymorth, the Bevan Foundation and Crisis. Private rents in Wales are increasing faster than anywhere else in Great Britain. In the last year, private rents in Wales have gone up by 6% on average. In England and Scotland, the figure is closer to 3%. Housing is devolved in Wales, but there are levers that can be pulled in Westminster, particularly around benefits, to immediately prevent more people from being forced into homelessness, the most effective of which would be unfreezing local housing allowance and restoring it to cover the true cost of rent.

Local housing allowance is a massive driver not just of homelessness in general, but of keeping people in homelessness, in turn affecting those sleeping rough, including children. When LHA was introduced by Labour in 2008, it was intended to cover private rents up to the 50th percentile—the lowest 50% of rents in a local area. Due to subsequent policy changes and freezes, LHA now covers only 1% of private rents in Wales, and 2.5% in England. I call on this Government to end the routine freezing of LHA and permanently relink it to the 50th percentile of local private rents, in line with the Welsh Government’s position. That is a vital step to prevent homelessness, tackle inequality and further rebalance the power of private tenants.

How can the Government achieve their plan to halve long-term rough sleeping and prevent homelessness if people on low incomes simply cannot afford a local home?

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

I was shocked, although perhaps not entirely surprised, to learn that among local authorities, Somerset has the third highest number of young people sleeping rough, in absolute terms, in the country. It struck me even more that it is sandwiched between urban areas. Does the hon. Member agree that the challenges of destitution and homelessness for families are as acute but far less visible, which often leads to rural rough sleeping being overlooked in national policy considerations?

[Steve Witherden]

The hon. Lady and I both represent rural parts of England and Wales, and she makes an extremely valid point. Not only do rural areas often get overlooked, but there is simply less housing in those areas—it is a double whammy. I thank her for her welcome intervention.

We must ensure that no child is forced to sleep rough in any circumstances. The measures that I have outlined today would be a vital step towards achieving that. Diolch yn fawr.