Sesame Street introduces the first-ever homeless Muppet

Sesame Street has been known to tackle difficult issues affecting children through their Muppet characters.

Last year the show was praised for introducing a character with autism.

Now the children's programme is introducing its first-ever homeless Muppet to raise awareness of the issue.

The Sesame Workshop announced on Wednesday their plans for a character called Lily's - with a number of short videos released online.

Lily, who has appeared on Sesame Street since 2011, is coping with the effects of an unsettled family.

It means she is finding it difficult to find a home - and always moving from place to place.

Difficult circumstances

"I miss our apartment and now we don't have our own place to live," she says in one video. "And sometimes I wonder if we'll ever have our own home again."

Lily's storylines have always found her trying to deal with difficult circumstances.

When she was first introduced she revealed her family's struggles with finding enough food to eat.

The clips form part of a community scheme that provides resources for children's physical and mental wellbeing.

In the UK, there were approximately 58,000 families accepted by councils as homeless in 2018, with 320,000 people homeless.

The hope is that Lily's experiences will help children in similar circumstances deal with their situation too.

"We know children experiencing homelessness are often caught up in a cycle of trauma", says Sherrie Westin who works for Sesame Workshop.

"The lack of affordable housing, poverty... or other trauma that caused them to lose their home, the trauma of actually losing their home, and the daily trauma of the uncertainty and insecurity of being homeless..."

"We want to help disrupt that cycle by comforting children, empowering them, and giving them hope for the future."