Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Thousands of Liverpool kids living in squalid conditions

David Duke | 13.09.2006 11:58 | Liverpool

Whilst millions pour into the city centre developments, making the city nicer for those with money - most of the lives of most residents is getting worse.

NEW statistics released today reveal that 22,189 children in Liverpool live in unsuitable or cramped housing. Figures also show a further 71 children in the city are homeless.

In a report for homeless charity Shelter, child poverty experts warn that the Government is failing 150,000 children in the North West who are forced to grow up in squalid conditions.

The report, Chance of a Lifetime, was commissioned by the charity from Lisa Harker - an independent adviser on child poverty for the Department for Work and Pensions.

It also reveals that children who live in bad or overcrowded housing are up to 10 times more likely to contract meningitis and are up to 25% more likely to develop severe ill-health and disability during childhood and early adulthood.

Ms Harker said: "Childhood is a precious time when our experiences shape the adults we become - but children who grow up in bad housing are robbed of their future chances by ill health, educational under-achievement and devastating insecurity."

John Ryan, Shelter's area manager for Merseyside, said: "The fact that Liverpool had been earmarked as a housing market renewal area shows that we have higher incidents of poor housing than in other areas.

"This report is so important because it highlights the social disadvantage that children face from living in poor accommodation that can lead to poor health which in turn leads children to miss school and prevents them from getting a proper education.

"This means that poor housing doesn't just affect children today but means their whole future suffers."

Shelter is calling for 1,330 more social homes in the North West to help children grow up in better housing.

A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said: "The council has recently commissioned a housing condition survey to gain evidence of the quality of housing stock.

"The council has also carried out a survey to find out about more vulnerable households.We remain committed to reducing the number of homeless children." The Government said that, despite the statistics on homeless children, homelessness in general had fallen in the North West by a quarter since last year.

National statistics show that 3,010 new households became homeless in the North West during April to June of this year - 25% lower than the same time last year.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said: "We've made great progress in preventing and tackling homelessness in the North West with the latest figures showing a 25% reduction.

"But there are still too many people in temporary accommodation and overcrowded conditions and we need to continue the work to prevent rough sleeping."

David Duke

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. Liverpool Lullaby — The Merseyside heritage society
  2. re decent homes — Johny Bird
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech