Exploring Risks and Hazards for Neurodivergent Children in Temporary Accommodation

2026-04-28

There is a content warning for this session. Some of the material shared is distressing. But it is important and the conversation is worth hearing in full. There are nearly 176,000 children in England living in temporary accommodation right now. That number would fill Wembley Stadium almost twice over. Families are spending an average of four and a half years in these situations. And between 2019 and 2025, 104 children died in temporary accommodation, with their housing listed as a contributing...

There is a content warning for this session. Some of the material shared is distressing. But it is important and the conversation is worth hearing in full.

There are nearly 176,000 children in England living in temporary accommodation right now. That number would fill Wembley Stadium almost twice over. Families are spending an average of four and a half years in these situations. And between 2019 and 2025, 104 children died in temporary accommodation, with their housing listed as a contributing factor. 73% of those children were under the age of one.

In this episode of The Social Housing Round Table, Matt Baird is joined by Professor Katherine Brickell and Dr Rosalie Warnock from the Sensory Lives Project at King's College London, to discuss the findings of their landmark report: It's Like Torture: Life in Temporary Accommodation for Neurodivergent Children and their Families.

Published in January 2026 following the first ever national call for evidence on this topic, the report reveals a picture that goes far beyond the commonly reported issues of damp and overcrowding.

Neurodivergent children placed in hotels and hostels face unsafe windows, unsecured staircases, no space to self-regulate, no familiar belongings, and environments that are overwhelming in ways that most housing decisions simply do not account for. Families are moved with hours' notice, sometimes hundreds of miles from their support networks. Children fall off NHS waiting lists every time they cross a borough boundary. And the system, at almost every point, fails them.

The report is available to read alongside this episode and we encourage you to do so. See it here: https://urbanhealth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Impact-on-Urban-Health-Neurodivergent-Children-in-Temporary-Accommodation.pdf

Big thank you to Case Management Solutions Group Ltd and Alertacall Ltd for sponsoring The Social Housing Round Table, without them, none of this would be possible.

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