Commenting on the Shelter report Generation
Homeless, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary
of the National Education Union, said:
“This should shock us and move us all to act. It’s an
indictment of the child homelessness which austerity is causing.
The survey shows how much living in emergency accommodation
affects children’s learning and education. Having no secure home
creates real worry and anxiety for children. The current
Government should not have scrapped the target to end child
poverty by 2020. It’s a national disgrace that 1.5 million
children are forecast to fall into poverty between 2010 and
2020/21. With 67% of children in poverty
living with at least one adult who works, the pretence that
employment is currently a route out of poverty does not hold
up.
“An incoming Government must promise serious and immediate
improvements to the tax and social security system. Britain needs
an economic plan for better-paying, secure jobs and a child
poverty strategy with real teeth. Every child without secure and
safe housing is paying the price for indefensible political
choices. We know how to end child poverty and so the scale of the
distress faced by homeless children is terrible to witness.
Teachers want urgent action for the families they
support. December 12th gives every voter
a chance to use their vote to end child poverty.”
