Around 100 homeless people, including families with children and pregnant mothers, have approached Crisis for help after being turned away by local authorities, ITV News Investigations Editor Daniel Hewitt reports
ITV News has found that children as young as four years old are being forced to sleep rough on the streets, with local councils in England being accused of breaking the law by denying families emergency accommodation.
We spoke to one homeless family in London with five children who slept on the streets for almost two weeks in December, and another family with three children in Birmingham, all under the age of 12, who were forced to sleep in their car.
Both families were turned away by local councils, who refused to provide the accommodation after they became homeless.
The charity Crisis says councils are increasingly “competing with each other to not help children rough sleeping, which is something I thought we’d never see”.
Matt Downie, the CEO of Crisis, says ‘we’re seeing councils flagrantly breaking their own laws’
The charity told ITV News their records show 100 homeless, including families with children and pregnant mothers, have come to them for help after being turned away by local authorities.
“In the last few weeks and months, we’ve started to see something we’ve never seen before. We have never seen children having to sleep rough in this country,” said Matt Downie, Crisis CEO.
“We very often are understanding of the pressures that local councils are under because they are real, but when it comes to children sleeping rough, I’m afraid there’s no sympathy whatsoever.
“You’re breaking the law. It’s morally outrageous. It’s legally outrageous. It needs to stop and we need the government to step in and say unequivocally, this must never happen again.”
According to the government, a household with a child has a priority need and should be provided with temporary accommodation if homeless.
If you or your family have been affected by this story you can contact us at [email protected]
If the household does not meet the criteria for homelessness assistance, then children’s services should accommodate them to protect the welfare of the children.
In cases where it is not clear which authority owes a duty to accommodate, the local authority approached by the family should provide interim accommodation while inquiries are made or disputes resolved.
In south London, five children and their parents became street homeless in December after being refused to provide them with accommodation.
The family, who are from Afghanistan, are refugees with the legal right to live in the UK. They fled the Taliban, so we are protecting their identity.
The children aged 4, 8, 12, 16 and 18, and their parents, slept on the streets for 12 nights. Credit: ITV News
They became homeless in November 2025. Unable to find anywhere affordable to rent, they approached the council in Bromley, where their father had been living since 2022.
Despite turning up at the council building, the children aged 4, 8, 12, 14 and 16, and their parents were told the council had no duty to provide accommodation.
With nowhere else to go, they slept on the streets for 12 nights.
“The weather was very cold, and it was raining,” said the children’s father.
“People were crossing from the road, giving us blankets, and they helped us. I was thinking – my children could die, anything could happen.
“The children told me when we lived in Afghanistan, we were helping beggars, we used to take food to them – how come we are in this situation here?
“The way they are treating us is worse than animals – they are children.”
The family had nowhere to go. Credit: ITV News
The family travelled to Walthamstow in north-east London, where they hoped to stay with people they knew. When they were unable to stay there, they approached Waltham Forest Council.
They slept on the steps of the council building, before being found by charity workers from Crisis and placed in a local hostel. Waltham Forest then agreed to pay for emergency accommodation after 12 nights on the streets.
“Secretly, I cried. I cried when I was on the streets,” said the father.
“I was thinking here there would human rights – if they don’t care about me, they should care about my children.”
The family is currently living in a hostel.
Homelessness minister, Alison McGovern, told ITV News: “No child should be sleeping on the streets, and the law is absolutely clear on that – each case is a failure of the system. “Where there’s any confusion, the council approached must provide interim housing immediately, with disputes resolved afterwards.
“No child’s safety should hinge on administrative delays, and I will be writing to all councils to remind them of their legal responsibilities to never allow a child to sleep rough.”
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A Bromley Council spokesperson said, “All approaches for housing assistance in Bromley are carefully checked to ensure that a housing duty is rightly owed.
“In this case, we have not received the information to date to show that a housing duty is owed by Bromley, however if further information comes to light, we will of course review this, as we are committed to providing housing in line with our statutory duties.”
A spokesperson for Waltham Forest Council said: “The family came to the attention of Waltham Forest Children’s Services last December. As soon as we established the significance of their situation, and with the knowledge that they had previously presented as homeless in another part of the capital, our Housing team quickly stepped in to provide emergency accommodation.
“Locally we have seen homelessness demand rise by 80 percent in just two years. Research suggests boroughs across London are grappling with a shortfall of £1billion this financial year alone, much of it going on providing temporary accommodation.”
On Thursday, the government will publish the annual rough sleeping statistics for England, which are widely expected to increase. Last year the number of people sleeping rough increased by 20% to 4,667, just below the peak in 2017. Government data on how many children are living in temporary accommodation will also be published on Thursday. The current number – 172, 420 – is the highest on record.
Yet ITV News has spoken to families being denied even temporary accommodation when they become homeless.
In Birmingham, Mechelle and her three children were forced to sleep in their car last year after Birmingham City Council refused to provide accommodation.
Mechelle and her young children were forced to sleep in their car
The family are from Birmingham but had been living and renting in Cornwall. Her three-year old son, who has a learning disability and epilepsy, was having more seizures, so she decided to move back to Birmingham to be closer to family and a dedicated children’s hospital.
“I thought in my own head that I could afford private rent and work like I’ve always done and paid my way,” said Mechelle.
“I was actually on the street in the car, there’s no toilet, the kids crying, my boy’s having seizures.
“It was pretty damn scary, really, to be honest. I was just petrified…you think: Are we going to survive this? What’s going to happen? I honestly thought I was going to lose my kids to care.
“I’m ashamed of the situation I put us in and the guilt that I carry that I’ve had to put my kids through. My kids have got disabilities and they’re not entitled to the help and the support that they need. What else do you do?”
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson: “We are very sorry to hear about the problems faced by this household. Birmingham City Council recognises the difficulties this family has experienced and acknowledges the significant distress caused by their housing situation.
“We take our responsibilities to homeless families extremely seriously and remain committed to ensuring that all children and vulnerable individuals are supported and safeguarded. We are currently reviewing advice provided and ensuring that any learning from this case is embedded in the future practice.
“We are committed to acting within our statutory duties, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of children, and providing appropriate assistance to families facing homelessness.
“We can confirm that Birmingham City Council offered temporary accommodation as an interim measure for this family, and supported access to suitable permanent accommodation to end their homelessness.”
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