Britain's Homeless Families Panorama

crisis. This is primitive stuff. The children are having to go to the

toilet in front of each other. It shouldn't happen in this country. We

meet the homeless families with nowhere to go. If the children

weren't there, I would have given up a long time ago. It's difficult at

the minute. If I allow myself to go, I will

the minute. If I allow myself to go, I probably have a breakdown. That

won't be good for the kids. Or for the whole situation. A generation

that can never be sure how long they will have a home. More and more

families are struggling to keep a roof over their head. We have over

800,000 children waking up in temporary accommodation. The number

made homeless by private landlords is on the rise. We are in the

business to make money. With a chronic shortage of housing, where

are Britain's vulnerable families going to live? You are trapped

between an unhealthy house and homelessness? Yes. What does that

feel like? Rubbish. Vicky is packing up and clearing

out. She's lived here in Ashford with her two-year-old daughter for

eight months. Is that the last thing then? She's never been behind with

the rent and never had a complaint against her. But her landlord has

decided to evict 200 tenants because they are on housing benefit. I was

shocked. I kind of thought that if you just, you know, if you treated

the property well and you paid your rent, I couldn't see what the

problem would be. I think I deserve better. I'm a good tenant. I think

this could have been avoided. Like most in the private sector, Vicky

has no security beyond the end of her short-term tenancy. Last year,

in England, 53,000 households were accepted as homeless. Many were

kicked out by private landlords. If you are the ones that are labelled

as the ones that might not pay their rent, people aren't really going to

want to rent houses to you and where do you go? It's all a bit of a

shame, to be honest. Then the eviction notice on 23rd December,

two days before Christmas. The landlord sees things differently. He

says evicting 200 tenants on benefits is just economics. We are

in business to make money. We are not a charity. If we went to the

other extreme of having 100% of people on benefits we would go pop

because of the default break. This is a man with nearly 1,000

properties in his empire. He says rents are rising faster than welfare

payments and there is now too much risk with tenants on benefits. Do

you think you have a moral responsibility to these people, or

is it only profit that matters? We have had a moral responsibility for

a number of years, but it's just reached such a point that we cannot

continue. Is it acceptable, do you think, to evict people because they

are on benefits? In principle, if they have done something wrong...

No, their tenancy ends, you are a landlord and you don't want benefits

in your property? An individual private business will make

commercial decisions and if they decide they don't want to have

somebody on housing benefit, that is a perfect legitimate thing for them

to do. So Vicky and her daughter are out. You move into a place and if

you are not expecting to move every few months, you start to put down

roots and you start thinking about the school your child will go to. It

feels so unfair that in this day and age, the rug can be pulled out from

under your feet in terms of where you live. Vicky has managed to find

another place to live but many don't. In the past five years, the

number of households made homeless after leaving private accommodation

has trebled. Private tenancies being ended is the single biggest cause of

accepted homelessness cases in England. Most will have been forced

out by private landlords. England. Most will have been forced

sign of how the housing market has changed. For the first time since

the 1960s, there are now more people renting privately than in social

housing. This is the age of the private landlord. The private rented

sector has picked up the slack, as people haven't been able to buy,

people can't get into social housing, so they still need to be

housed somewhere and the private rented sector has filled the gap

over the past ten years. It's doubled in size. What that means is

people who used to go into social housing and can't afford to pay to

rent have nowhere to go. Many have ended up in temporary accommodation.

This is Milton Keynes. We are here to meet a family who absolutely

capture the problem that hundreds of families face. There's a shortage of

social housing. This family found themselves homeless. They were

placed in temporary accommodation and months later, they are still

there. The family used to rent privately, but when their six-month

tenancy came to an end, they were homeless. Hi, it is Richard Bilton

from Panorama. Come up. Thanks. The council placed them in this block

near the centre of town. Hi, Paul, Richard. Come in. This is home?

Unfortunately for now. It is not a big place, is it? Certainly not.

This is it? Yeah. A family of four live, eat and sleep in this one

room. It was supposed to be temporary, but they have lived like

this for eight months. It is a very big embarrassment when you have

friends and family come over here and you see effectively my failure

as a dad to my family. That is how you see it? 100%. Paul and Carla are

both working. The council says the couple can afford private rented and

offered to help them find a place and the deposit. But Paul and Carla

say renting privately is just too expensive and too insecure and what

they really fear is being made homeless all over again. You have

got nowhere else to go. This is it. It is here or nothing. So we have to

take it day-by-day, looking any further than that is very daunting.

They are holding out for the security that comes with social

housing. It seems like in a way there is no way out. Just seems like

we are going to be stuck here forever. Living like this is

affecting their health. See you later. The couple are both taking

antidepressants. I have been diagnosed with stress and

depression. Which is getting to me quite a lot at the minute. The only

thing that is keeping me going at the minute is the children. There's

not, you know, if the children weren't there, I would have probably

given up a long time ago. So they are my key to keeping me going and

keeping my family together. You know, there's... It is difficult at

the minute. In England, there are 44,000 families like Paul and Carla

living in temporary accommodation. The numbers have been rising. What

we are seeing is more and more families are struggling to keep a

roof over their head, we have over 80,000 children waking up every

morning in temporary accommodation. You will be a single room, maybe

four or five of you, sharing beds, you might be eating food off the

floor because there is nowhere communal to eat. These are terrible

circumstances for families. In the past, the obvious answer for many of

these families would have been social housing, with the security of

a long-term tenancy. But that model doesn't work like it used to. There

is not enough social housing to go around. There are 1.8 million

households in England waiting for social housing and many will be

waiting forever. The reason is council houses have been sold off

and successive governments have failed to build enough new homes.

One of the problems we have got, when we came to Government in 2010,

is that there was 420,000 less social houses than there was in the

period 1997, when the Labour Government came to power. Now, we

have got to address that base. We have to find ways in which we can

get decent housing for people and one of the solutions actually is

using the private rental sector. The shortage in some areas is so extreme

that councils are looking at radical ways of finding homes. This is

Romford on the outskirts of London. There isn't enough social housing

here, so the local council has done a deal with the private sector. The

council here operates like a property agent. They say to the

landlord we will guarantee you a set rent for two years and we will make

sure your property is looked after. Then they say to the tenant, you

don't have to worry about fees or a deposit, we will take care of that.

You have to cover the rent. For some tenants, it is almost like social

housing. The council acts as the landlord. They even take care of the

viewings. This is Marie. She is on benefits and she's been homeless.

But if she likes this private flat, it is hers. OK, if you would like to

come through, Marie. Thanks. This feels really swish. Newly-painted

and new carpets I can see. I have been sofa-surfing with friends and

family. Effectively, I was homeless, I didn't have anywhere to go. I'm

not working currently. So I can't prove that I have got an income

coming in. I didn't have the means for a deposit. And so it would have

been really hard for me. This place comes with a five-year tenancy,

virtually unheard of from a private landlord. If you could sign there if

you are happy with that? That is for the keys? It is. That is your key

receipt. Thank you, Marie. Thank you for your help. She couldn't afford

to go into the private sector, the boundaries there were deposits and

different things. It would have been very difficult for her and she's

been going from place to place. Hopefully, this has made a real

difference for Marie. I am over the moon. Over the moon. I feel like I

have now got a bit of a positive start to turn things around. The

scheme is self-sufficient, it doesn't touch the council tax

funding. In the past seven years, it's helped 2,500 people in this

borough. It can only help a fraction of those trapped outside the private

system. If you live in an area where rents are a lot higher than

benefits, it is much harder for councils to help. Come with me.

Quick then. Krina is facing a crisis. It's 7.50, boys, get a move

on! Do you remember this jumper? She is a single mum with three boys

living in South London. Do you remember it? This flat has been

their home for five years. Come with me. Come with me, please. Now, the

family is facing eviction. Right. The court has ordered me to be out

of here. The landlady wants her property back. I can't fight that.

It's hers. If she wants it back to sell, I can't do much, can I? Krina

has no idea where she will be living next. Where are your glasses? She is

on benefits but changes to the welfare system means she's now

entitled to less money. Her housing benefit has been cut by more than

?400 a month. She says that means she can no longer afford to rent

around here. I'm probably looked at as a mum with three children, on

benefits, right we need to get her off benefits, if she can't afford to

live in London, she can move out of London. Got everything? I have got

kids that are in Year 3 at school. My five friends that support me are

all around here. It is just uprooting. At times, I don't want to

think about it. At times, I don't want to contemplate it in my head.

The Government says it's put aside almost ?1 billion to help people

like Krina and that overall, homelessness figures have started to

fall. into major new housing projects. We

have just come out of the deepest recession for over 100 years and we

put huge amounts of resources in there to make sure the most

vulnerable in society have the protection there. You have said

everything the government is trying to do, don't they get moved away

when you look at the welfare reforms and the welfare cap is one of the

primary reasons people are being made homeless. There is no evidence

that is the case. But for Krina things look very different, she will

be homeless in three weeks. She may be forced to leave London, and if

she does her boys will have to leave their school. Do you like your

friends in your class? Yes. How much? 50%! The local council has

told Krina it will provide her with temporary accommodation but she

doesn't know where it will be or how she will find somewhere permanent.

Is that fun? Jump down. If I allow myself to go and just

keep feeling whatever it is inside that I want to feel and let out, I

will probably have a break down and that is not going to be good for the

kids or for the whole situation. It might be good for me for about five

or ten minutes to get all of the anger and frustration out, but it

won't get me anywhere, will it? Even if the council

won't get me anywhere, will it? Even Krina, she may end up with a private

landlord. Most properties in the private rented sector are fine, the

problem is homeless families tend to end up at the bottom of the market.

One of the things we have found is that if you are at the bottom end of

the market, the quality of the housing you go into is poor. People

report damp, vermin infestation and huge difficulties in terms of

getting a landlord to do anything. The situation is pretty dire,

frankly. Natalie Wood knows The situation is pretty dire,

that can be like. She lives in Chipping Norton, David Cameron's

constituency wealthy area, her rented

can see, if you put anything against can see, if you put anything against

this wall, black mould appears. That is because that has been on there?

Yes, because there is no air gap. is because that has been on there?

Natalie has lived here with her two boys for one year,

Natalie has lived here with her two privately. An expert has told her

that the house is so damp she should move out. We cannot put any of the

clothes in the wardrobes. They are not usable, they stink, they have

got mould in them so the clothes have got to go on rails. Absolutely

everywhere has got mauled or damp. The landlord has failed to sort the

damp out. Natalie says she wants to move but hasn't got the money. To

make things worse, she is nearly eight months pregnant. What is the

stress like, knowing there is mould creeping over your children and your

possessions? It is awful, for the kids more than anything,

particularly their clothes. I don't want to send them to school smelling

of mould, or looking like smelly kids. Sorry. They won't do that, but

is that what it is like? Yes. We are not a dirty family and I don't want

them to be tarred with that. Natalie says she has been asking the Council

for social housing for three months but they haven't offered anything.

So you are trapped between an unhealthy house and homelessness?

Yes. What does that feel like? Absolutely rubbish. And you have got

a baby on the way. Yes. For those at the bottom end of the private rental

market, experiences like Natalie's are all too common. One in three

private rental properties fail to meet the government's decent homes

standard and many think the problem is a lack of regulation. You have to

pass more rules and regulations if you want to setup a whelk stall than

if you want to rent a property to an individual and that property is

somebody's home that you are trying to do. It is ludicrous. The controls

matter because the law in England has been changed and private

landlords and now at the heart of emergency housing policy. There has

been a major change in the approach to homelessness from the Government.

In the past a family that was accepted as homeless could insist on

social housing, but now the council can effectively forced the family to

take a property in the private sector. So far, the new power hasn't

been widely used but one of Britain's top QCs on housing law

says we should be concerned. There is no problem provided that there

is, in the private rented sector, reasonable quality accommodation at

rents that can be afforded by homeless people. The sad reality is

that there is not. This is at the moment are totally unregulated

industry. Anybody can let a property of any standard for which they can

find a tenant. Private landlords have an important role and most do

it well but even some in the industry accept there is a problem

at the bottom end of the market. Some landlords are better than

others and we know there are people out there who exploit the

vulnerable. What checks do most authorities do with landlords? I

think it is variable around the country. Some stories we have

heard, I would question whether many of them do anything at all. The

National landlords Association says there is virtually no enforcement,

do you say they are wrong? There is a requirement on local authorities

to make sure, if they are using public money to house somebody, they

use our houses. There are some families who just cannot find a

home. Meet the Millers. They look like a happy family on holiday but

they are not. Two years ago, this family owned a five bedroom detached

house in Surrey. Now they live in a camper van. Fora family to go

through this for so long without any certainty at all is very difficult

to take. The options are very limited now so whether we stay here

for one week, three weeks, it is a complete unknown as it has been all

along. After the family home was repossessed they were forced to rent

privately but they couldn't afford it and ended up in a camper van.

They are using the local church as a campsite. We have got electric,

thank goodness, to make a cup of tea and a fire to keep us warm. That is

pretty much where we are. The council has offered two properties

but the Millers were worried about drug dealing in the area and decided

they were better off in the camper van. It is difficult for us but for

the children to go through what they have in the last few months, you No,

waking up in the middle of the night and this is primitive stuff. This is

what people did in the Victorian times. The children having to go to

the toilet in front of each other, leaning over a bucket. It shouldn't

happen in this country. What about a private landlord? That is what the

council suggested but Dean and debris are on benefits and say most

landlords have refused to take them. The agents' fees vary. You could be

talking ?5,000 before you even walk through the door and in this area it

is almost impossible to get a private rental if you are receiving

housing benefit. It is hard to explain to the children when they

keep asking. Where are we going to live? When are we going to get a

house? It is very hard. What do you say? Hopefully soon we will have

somewhere nice, we can all be a family again. After three months in

the camper van, the Millers finally found a private rented house but had

to borrow from family and friends to cover the ?3000 needed for the

deposit and fees. Vicki, who was evicted for being on housing

benefit, is still in her new property but has less than six weeks

left on the tenancy. Paul and Carla, after months of saying no to private

rented, finally got a place in social housing. After more than a

year in a damp home, Natalie was also given social housing. But

before she was able to move in, she suffered a personal tragedy. Natalie

lost her baby at nine months. It was horrible, the worst time of my life.

I don't want to put the blame on anyone. Whatever happened just

happened, there was nothing anyone could do about it. Obviously stress

doesn't help. Pregnancy is meant to be a happy time and it wasn't. Krina

was evicted and moved into temporary accommodation. Her children haven't

had to move schools, but the family has been living in this one-bedroom

flat for months and they are still waiting. It is everything I asked

for, to be honest, but I don't think it is over yet. We cannot sit back

and relax because through my past experiences, there is always

something that's kind of hiccups. Britain is running out of places to

something that's kind of hiccups. live. There simply isn't the social

housing for everyone who wants it. live. There simply isn't the social

But is the poorly regulated private sector the right place for our most

vulnerable families? Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with

your 90 Second update. The BBC's learned that

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up in Aberdeen. It's believed to be linked to

the militant Islamist group, Isis. Two other men shown are

from Cardiff.