‘We are not seen or heard’: 61% of people in temporary accommodation for more than 10 years are female

More than six in 10 people who have lived in temporary accommodation for more than a decade in Lambeth are women and girls, according to new data.

According to data released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) act, of the 982 people in temporary accommodation for more than 10 years in Lambeth, 604 are women and girls.

This is despite only 49 per cent of the borough being female, according to the council’s latest demographic data.

Sachia Clarke-Arscott, 34, of Elderberry Grove, Knights Hill, is a single mum-of-three who has lived in temporary accommodation for almost 11 years.

Ms Clarke-Arscott and her children, aged 17, nine and two months, share a single bedroom in a hostel.

The mental health support worker said: “I have been moved between six temporary accommodations by Lambeth.

“This is the smallest one we’ve had and we’ve been here for six years.”

More than 40,000 people are on Lambeth’s waiting list for social housing, according to the council. Every night the local authority provides temporary accommodation for more than 3,000 families.

Figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show £66,596,000 was spent on temporarily housing homeless people in Lambeth last year. Of this, £33,285,000 was covered by the council.

Two of Ms Clarke-Arscott’s children have lived in temporary accommodation for their entire childhood.

She said: “There is no living space here – I have a baby who is about to start crawling but where is she going to crawl?

“My eldest can’t bring her friends over, we have no tables or chairs so she has nowhere to study.

“We now have social services in place because she stopped going to school.”

Despite multiple complaints, Ms Clarke-Arscott says she has had no bathroom light for six months and the front door of the property has dropped, meaning it frequently jams and has locked the family inside on a number of occasions.

Ms Clarke-Arscott says her living situation has taken a toll on her mental health and she is now medicated for anxiety and depression.

She said: “Because I’m a single mum I’m not seen and I’m not heard – it’s like they don’t care.”

In May and July 2022, the London Assembly Housing Committee undertook an investigation into women and housing in London which found housing is less affordable for women due to lower salaries and caring roles.

The report found that the median price of a house in London in 2020 was 17.5 times the average earnings for a woman but only 13.6 times more than a man’s.

Another single mother who lives in a one-bedroom flat in Elderberry Grove, Stephanie, has lived in temporary accommodation with her son, 10, for a decade.

The 34-year-old who works with social services in a secondary school said she has lived in “horrific conditions” in hostels where her son witnessed violence and drug taking by other tenants. 

She said: “I have made more than 1,000 bids on Lambeth’s housing list. For nine years I was 800 in the list and was only shortlisted once for a property full of mould.

“I don’t know what to do anymore, I feel so stuck.”

Stephanie, who did not want to give her full name due to the nature of her job, said her son has developed attachment issues and anxiety, having only ever lived in a single room with his mother.

Their current property is also riddled with damp and mould, which Stephanie says has exacerbated her son’s asthma and eczema.

She said: “I have had to miss days of work because of me and my son’s health and now I’m worried I will lose my job.”

A spokesman from Lambeth council said: “We are sorry that these women are unhappy with their accommodation, but we are continuing to support them and to provide housing advice. We assess the suitability of all accommodation before we place people there, and we monitor conditions on an ongoing basis.

“We are committed to providing the most suitable accommodation available to everyone who comes to us needing a roof above their heads. 

“But the shortage of affordable accommodation means we sometimes have to house people in temporary accommodation until somewhere permanent becomes available.”

Pictured top: Sachia Clarke-Arscott and the room Ms Clarke-Arscott and her three children live in (Picture: Sachia Clarke-Arscott)