20/03/2017 Inside Out West Midlands

On Inside Out tonight, the number of families in temporary accommodation

is going up, but the prospects for their children are going down.

Children with an inconsistent home life are going to feel more

pressure. They're going to come to school with other worries in their

day, other than learning their spellings or learning their times

tables. Also on the programme: Head injuries in football, could a

virtual reality head set spot the danger signs? That's actually one of

the biggest effects I've seen. Yeah, really. And how to make a fortune,

using one of these. We meet the Midlanders making big bucks online.

Everyone seemed to be making YouTube videos and four years down-the-line

it's my fulltime job. You're watching Inside Out.

Tonight, I'm in West Bromich, a town with a rich footballing history.

Later, we'll see how it's leading the way in making the game safer.

First, though, the growing number of children growing up without a proper

home. Last year councils across the West Midlands housed over 4,000

families in temporary accommodation, like hostels and B It's having a

big impact. My name is Amanda. I'm seven years old. After a family

break down, Samantha, her five-year-old brother, sister Nadiya

and mum Nicki spent seven months living in one room in a hostel. I'm

drawing the old house. First I'm going to draw the table. The place

was very tiny. It was very stressful. It was loud. It wasn't a

house. It was kind of a hotel. It had a sofa, a closet, a countertop

with a sink and a stove top oven. It was tough. Who's in the bed? Mummy.

Mum's in the bed. She's sleeping. I had a burning bed, one single bed

and one for myself. My two little ones were in the burning bed. I'm

going to draw the sink. If the parent doesn't have the will to

fight, the confidence, it's going to sometimes lessen the chances for the

child. That's the reality for children in this situation. It can

get even the toughest of children down sometimes. I'm starting to cry.

Nadia's starting to cry. Are you OK? Last year, more than 4,000 families

across the West Midlands were in a similar situation. Eachory this

number is going up. For the children involved, the consequences are grim.

Especially when it comes to their education. We're finding in the last

couple of years or so, that more and more families are finding themselves

heading towards homelessness. They're having to rely on council

services to put them in temporary accommodation. That can be very

stressful for a child. Joanne has been a West Midlands head teacher

for 16 years. Children with an inconsistent home life are going to

feel more pressure. They're not going to be able to give the

concentration to their work that perhaps their peers will be able to

do. For the most devoted parents, this situation takes its toll on the

children. They made the best of it. It was tough. They were aware what

was going on. We didn't talk about it often. At the beginning, it was

very hard, because erm...... They knew they weren't at home any more.

That hurts because their room, their toys, all of that was gone. Nicki is

American, but her kids were born and raised here. Wolverhampton is their

going to succeed in life. I'm going to succeed in life. I'm

originally from Detroit, Michigan. I had a life there. I was happy. Then

I came here for the ultimate, you know, love. I got married to a

British man. We had a family. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

But I'm still happy here because I have my children. Nicki is making

the best of it. But life's not easy. Research shows kids with an unstable

home life perform worse at school. One reason is families are often

housed further away. There are logistical issues for parents living

long distances from the schools their children attend. We were

sometimes running, I was running with my children to catch a bus, if

it was a little early or late. How do they get their children halfway

across the city on public transport. We had to walk up extra early just

to get to school. This can have a huge impact. I don't think I could

logistically manage that. It's hard to cook properly because of scram

ped spaces and limited facilities in hostels or B You couldn't eat

the way you wanted to. You can't. I couldn't have a proper, you know,

like a roast chicken or something. That wasn't going to happen. While

Nicki made sure her kids were fed as best she could, others can't dot

same. We're finding families in our school who are reliant very much on

the mid-day meal that we provide. We wonder what happens to those

children in school holidays and at weekends. A hungry child isn't going

to be able to access the curriculum. There's stress over school, food and

life at home. This leads children's behaviour often changing. When

children miss behave there's always a reason. It wasn't good, their

grades, they became more secluded. There's usually a root cause, that

can be something unsettling in their lives. It did affect their sleep and

performance. The result is kids falling behind their peers. You know

at the other place, did you get all your school work done? Well, I

didn't get to... There was only a tiny table and I didn't have that

much time to, like, do my work because we were so, we were far away

from our school. It's claimed this is the first generation since the

Second World War that's expected to do worse in life than their parents.

If that's the case, what chance do these kids at the bottom of the

ladder have of breaking this cycle? Perhaps Wolverhampton MP Emma

Reynolds knows. My mum and I found ourselves homeless due to family

break down. After staying with a couple of different friends, the

council found us a flat in this area. We were lucky. There are

similarities between her childhood similarities between her childhood

and Samantha's. Why was Emma able to get out of the cycle, though?

There's been 1. 6 million council properties sold off. I know there's

a lot of children who find themselves in the situation of being

homeless now and don't have the good fortune that I did, that they can

move into a council property because there simply aren't many available.

Last year, there are only around 1100 council properties available

for use as temporary housing in the West Midlands. Not enough for all

the families in need, and this ultimately harms child development.

We were there for a while, a long time, close to seven months. So

that's how it all worked out because of lack of housing space. There's

not enough housing. It means West Midlands councils have spent more

than ?30 million to put people in B and hotels in the last three

years. The Local Government Association says the current level

of temporary accommodation that councils are funding is

unsustainable. They'd rather use that cash to build affordable homes

as well. On the ground, it's the housing officers that are worried

about children's welfare. When we are looking to provide

accommodation, we are looking to find things that mean a child can

still go to school, can still do their home work. It's becoming much

more difficult. The numbers of people coming through the doors sin

creasing rap -- doors is increasing rapidly. We are starting to see more

and more clients who are actually in need of accommodation on that day.

The Government says they know there's more it can do. There's a

pledge to build more than 200,000 affordable houses before 2020.

Building of affordable homes is great, but what does affordable?

That may be affordable for certain areas. In Wolverhampton, where

income rates aren't as high as other areas, it means that is completely

different. If funded appropriately, local authorities will be expected

to do more in relation to homelessness prevention. Rather than

waiting till families are out there and on the streets in need of

temporary accommodation that we can keep them where they are in the

accommodation that they're in. In the meantime more people are being

pushed into the private sector. Many are renting from a private landlord.

The biggest driver now of homelessness is being evicted. It's

atrocious and appalling. It's the sort of thing that you saw in 19th

century Britain not 21st century Britain. It cannot be beyond us to

make sure that this doesn't happen. Hello! Thankfully for Nicki and her

family, they've been able to get a council house. The kids' school work

is improving. We're in a really good place. My daughter getting into her

new school, she's really in a good place. Yeah, I think they're going

to be fine, just fine. I'm looking forward to. It

But they are the lucky ones. There's still thousands struggling, fighting

and trying to survive. Until there's an effective system to make sure

kids have a stable home, the gap between the children without a home

and the rest is only going to get wider.

Most people these days can make a video and share it online. But can

you actually make any money from it? Probably about 10% of vloggars make

enough money to make a living. When you talk about the multimillionaire

ones, it's a fraction of a percentage. But before that, let's

talk football. Because back in the 60s West Brom fans referred to this

guy, the great Jeff Astle, as none other than the king and rightly so.

Heading the heavy balls took its toll. He died a brain injury. Now

new technology holds the hope of protecting the players of the

future. We've been finding out more. COMMENTATOR: Both appear to be out

cold. Injuries are part and parcel of the game. So is heading the ball.

Evidence is mounting, it can affect the brain. How many times did I head

the ball? Hundreds of thousands. I've been knocked out a few times.

There are also fears about clashes to the head. But could new

technology help? Concussion is a transient disruption of brain

function as a result, direct or indirect, knock to the head.

The Astle family know only too well. Jeff Astle a West Bromich Albion

legend died from dementia 15 years ago. A Coroner ruled it was brain

trauma, brought on by heading heavy laerge footballs. -- leather

footballs. He didn't know he was even a footballer. To watch this,

you know, your dad, just the way he was prior to the disease. He

couldn't have had anything worse, I don't think so. Because it

completely changed him. Jeff's brain was re-examined three years ago.

He'd actually died from CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a small

independent study recently showed that other former players had also

died from the same condition. The Astle family say it's now time for

the football authorities to provide definitive answers. We've been very

patient, very polite. We've waited all these years. They've let us

down. They let Jeff down and they've let football down. So let's go for

it. If there's one club taking head injuries seriously, it's Jeff's old

club, West Brom. Today is match day. The Baggies are at home to Crystal

Palace and I've been invited along to join the medical team. In two

consecutive weeks two players have had head injuries here.

COMMENTATOR: It's a clash of heads I think that's the problem. And

Dawson, we can see, has been knocked out cold I think. The Premier League

has strict concussion guidelines. And it's up to the doctor to make

the call. What happens if a player suffers a head injury? The first

thing is obviously the medical team have to get onto the pitch so we can

assess the player. If they're complaining of any signs of

concussion, if they've been knocked out, they have a headache, feeling

unsteady, memory disturbance, then we need to bring them off the pitch

straight away. Do you feel a sense of pressure when you have to make

that call? Yes. It's part of the game. It's part of my job, but it's

not always an easy part of the job. This is an environment where winning

is everything. But there are strict guidelines that stipulate if in

doubt sit a player out. But now there could be a new hi-tech

solution and one former player says that's the way to go. Andy Wilkinson

has been travelling to America for treatment, where he's seen the

pitchside technology. The former Stoke City defender suffered one

blow to the side of his head two years ago and it ended his career. I

just thought come the Monday morning, after the game, I'd be fine

and just crack on and play another seven years. But unfortunately, I've

been all round the world, seen the best specialists and no stone

unturned, unfortunately they all come to the same conclusion. That

was it for Andy. It was just too dangerous for him to carry on

playing. That's why Andy believes there is a place for new technology.

This virtual reality device is an onning Russ rift -- occulus rift.

This is being trialled at games in America with a nuerosurgeon

pitchside. Along with clinical assessments it can detect concussion

within seconds. Dr Michael Grey has been trialling the virtual reality

device to detect concussion at the University of Birmingham. What we're

going to ask you to do is have a look at the white board that's up

here. There will be some instructions. The idea of the test

is getting the brain to do two things at the same time. Green,

green. Green. Red. That's good. Someone with concussion will be off

balance and unable to concentrate. For somebody who's healthy, that's

one of the biggest effects I've seen. Really? Yeah, really. The club

doctor isn't concan youed but a concan youed player would show a

clear mismatch with his balance and vision. You will have players that

say no, I'm fine. I want to go on. You do this test or one like it, I

think those questions go away. You've had a go of the device

yourself. Do you think this could have a place in football? I think

we're looking at a functional test that allows us to make a quick

decision and technology such as that, you know, it could be very

helpful. With our virtual reality balance test we're having the brain

do one thing and then we challenge it by tilting the room. It's only by

doing this that we can see subtle changes that might not show up in a

standard neurocognitive test. In his day, Andy Grey, former Villa, Wolves

and West Brom striker, made a career of heading the ball. He too believes

technology could help. What football has no excuse about is embracing

modern technology. No excuse. It can't say we don't have the money.

It's awash with money, paying millions and millions of pounds to

footballers and then worrying very little about the health. The

challenge is when we allow players to get back out onto the pitch after

having sustained a concussion. Because the next one, to the same

blow, may cause a more serious injury. New technology won't help

former players, but Dawn wants the sport's leading figures to recognise

there is a growing number of former players with dementia and has

football played a part in that? We're on our way to meet Gordon

Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, the players union. There's

absolutely no doubt, certainly as far as Jeff's concerned, the way

that Dawn and the family have treated or untreated really by the

FA, by the PFA, it has been nothing short of scandalous, it really has.

15 years since dad died and on paper, I guess we're no further

forward, which is dreadful really. Dawn believes there could be

hundreds of former footballers affected by dementia. Do you think

football's got a problem with former players and dementia? If I look at

other sports, you'd have to think for obvious reasons that if you were

a boxer and you see what happened to the great Mohammed Ali, you know you

think, that could well have been a result of boxing. I'm not, I am not

qualified to talk - because I can give you as many former players who

have had terrible problems with their hips, with their knees, with

their ankles. The meeting lasts for two hours. Dawn believes the PFA has

a duty of care to former players. We've got a fraction of the

resources of the Premier League, the Football League, the FA and Fifa.

I'm not passing the buck. It's one of your former players who has died

of boxer's brain. You should be screaming from the roof tops for

these players. I can't... Clearly frustrated. She leaves the room. If

I speak to all the families who I'm representing now, I think I feel

bitterly let down. If you're asking me if I'm frustrated and Dawn said,

you know you can be jumping up and down screaming, we need to be more

professional than that. Anybody who knows me will know and see the

evidence that we've been knocking on this door for a long, long time to

deal with this issue. The FA declined to give us an

interview, but along with other Football Associations, they say they

are now going to fund a six-figure study looking at the possible link

between dementia and football. And for current players and youngsters,

just a few hundred pounds on new technology could help to prevent

brain injuries in the future. How would you feel about sharing

your life with millions of people online? Not keen? What if I told you

you could make lots of money in the process? It's called vlogging. It's

not as easy as it sounds. I'm strutting my way into a world where

anyone can become an online celebrity. It's all done through

something called sloling. You may not have heard of it, millions have.

First things first definitions. Vlogging is an online journal. This

is a video version of it. Anyone can do it, you need a computer, the

internet and something to say. From lifestyle tips to gaming to putting

on make up. It's all out there. How easy is it? I'm going to be finding

out if this newbie vlogging has what it takes. I want to be able to have

enough subscribers and say to the day job, I need to reduce my hours,

please. Then I can be my own boss. For some people, this is all a bit a

hobby, just sharing their thoughts online. For others it's a career.

When they get it right, there's a lot of money to be made out of it.

Swedish video game vlogging PewDiepie. He pulled in ?12 million

last year. He is the richest YouTube performer. He's got 53 million

subscribers to his channels. But even top vloggars can get it wrong.

Last month he crossed the line. Disney has decided to end its

collaboration with him. Some of his videos have included Nazi references

and anti-Semitic imagery. On the red carpet, some of the UK's stars of

the vlogging world, young, vibrant and already successful. Such is the

interest in them, last year YouTube launched a new creative space in

London for them to use. But who are these vloggars. I asked an expert.

When you look at it, most of them seem to be people who are highly

communicative. They are savvy in terms of the business profile.

They're quite middle class and well educated. We don't know exactly what

makes people successful. It's clear that those who get the biggest

audiences are the ones with the right tone of voice. A lot of it is

people in their 20s talking to slightly younger audiences. Right,

it's time to meet our vlogging version known online as cheeky

mummy. Sinead has a three-year-old son and she wants to spend less time

at work and more time with him. She's hoping vlogging will let her

do that. I want to show case Birmingham and let people know that

you can go and do things with the little ones that are either really

cheap or free. The dream, I guess, is that if I can get enough

subscribers, enough views and do what I want to do and show case the

city, I can start to generate a small income from that. If that

means I drop from four days to three days, I get to spend more time at

home. But vlogging success means you need people to watch your videos and

subscribers to follow you on your channel. How many volumers have you

got? Four. That's nothing. Rubbish. How are you even going to make a few

pennies, never mind pounds? I have no idea. Your energy is infectious.

I try. Your task feels impossible at the moment to me. A little bit. I've

done it for four months. I've got a long way to go. It's not going to

happen overnight. I'll buy that for now. Thanks.

Advertisers are on the lookout for vloggars who can bring in an

audience. It's not just a numbers game. Tip number one is pig out your

favourite outfit... Staffordshire Amelia Goodhead has just 22,000

subscribers to her channel. That's nothing compared to the UK's top

vlogger Zoella, who has 11 million. I started my blog eight years ago as

a hope, it was a new and exciting thing. Then everyone seemed to be

making YouTube videos. I thought I'd give that a go. Four years

down-the-line, it's my fulltime job. Hey everyone, me again. Sinead is

here to see Amelia in action. One of the reasons I love vloggers is that

it's an individual person. You buy into them. How many of Amelia is the

real Amelia and is there a private versus public? The real Amelia is

right here. I guess what you're saying. You do sometimes feel like

the internet is not always as it is. Personally, it's my mission to put

everything out there. You'll see me crying, you'll see me laughing and

when things go right or wrong. There's so much superficial on the

internet these days. It's important to champion the real side. It's hard

work, though. This is 24/7. You have to motivate yourself and make sure

the money's coming in. Someone's not paying you regardless of whether you

turn up or not. You've got to put the content. As we all know, content

want to introduce Sinead. What's want to introduce Sinead. What's

your channel called. Cheeky mummy with an i. I will leave the

information down below so you can subscribe. Thank you so much for

your time. Has it been a bit daunting for you? Little bit, yes.

More to it than you thought? I knew there was behind-the-scenes stuff to

do. I need to go home and plan now. Even with the best played plans,

there's no guarantees. Probably 10% of vloggers make enough money to

make a living. When you talk about the really successful, millionaire

ones, we are talking about a ones, we are talking about a

fraction of a percentage. The way they do that is they get advertising

revenue. A vlogger gets 55% of an ad that's shown on YouTube. Unless you

have hundreds of thousands of views that won't make a significant amount

of money. Now they are diversifying. Habiba from Birmingham vlogs about

what's known about modest fashion. As women wearing a hijab or dressed

from head to toe used to be seen as something as people who are

oppressed. Now we're seen as fashionable. And as outspoken and

all the things that we are. With over a million followers on her

social media channels, her vlogging has led her to set up a fashion

line. Tonight she's putting on a do. Who better to give Sinead some top

advice. I think one thing about YouTube videos and retaining

people's watch time is having a snappy video where everything that

is being said is relevant. Secondly, I think you mention that you use a

phone to take your videos. Yes. Definitely need to upgrade on that.

And maybe think about your background. Maybe you can involve,

do you ever involve your child in the videos? There's a couple of

videos with him in. I was thinking having a background relevant to your

topic, something colourful. Something to do with like the topic

of you are vlogs. Good, simple advice. Are you going for it? Rule.

I would be mad -- absolutely, I would be mad not to. The business

part I'm very interested in. I best get cracking. Come on, then.

Best of luck to her. It looks very difficult. I have been taking tips

on board. Check out my vlog on Twitter@BBCi owm. Drop me an e-mail

as usual at [email protected]. That's all from this week. See you next

week. Have a good one, bye-bye. We're back next week on the trail of

a predator that once roamed these islands. Wolves were hunted to

extinction in medieval Britain, in a secret location in the Midlands,

they're back and living in conditions as close to their wild

forebearers as is possible to get. Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

with your 90-second update. Did some of President Trump's

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they are investigating the claims, but says there's no evidence

President Obama bugged Trump Tower. The Prime Minister will give

the formal go-ahead for Brexit Theresa May will trigger what's

known as Article 50, kicking off two years

of divorce negotiations with Google has apologised

for letting adverts appear next A number of big British companies

like Marks and Spencer