A child in Britain becomes homeless every eight minutes new Shelter report finds

Homelessness is at its highest rate in 13 years according to the charity Shelter

A child becomes homeless in Britain every eight minutes according to a new report.

The homeless charity Shelter has found that 183 children lose their homes every single day - that's enough children to fill two double-decker buses.

Shelter says more needs to be done to tackle the issue and says that homelessness is at its highest rate since 2006.

The British Government and leaders in Scotland and Wales have all said they want to get rid of homelessness.

Temporary housing

According to the charity's findings, the number of homeless children living in temporary accommodation had risen by 51% in Britain in the last five years.

The report looked at the impact of temporary accommodation like hostels and emergency bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) on families.

5,683 homeless families with children currently live in temporary accommodation and at least 135,000 children will spend their Christmas in one of these facilities this year.

These types of accommodation are often not very nice or secure and people don't have much privacy. Families can struggle if it is too small and doesn't have proper cooking facilities.

Will's story

"Life in the B&B is horrible," said 10-year-old Will.

Will's family were evicted from their home and they currently share a single room in a B&B in Ilford, East London. "There's no room to do anything, even if I'm reading my book, as I'm still going to get annoyed by someone. I've been told off by someone for running in the small corridor. You can't do much, you can't play much. I don't get to play that often."

Will and his family moved to the accommodation in September and they were told they would only be there for six weeks but it has been much longer.

"Sometimes me and my little brother Harry, we fight for the one chair, because we both want to sit at the table, and sometimes he wins and sometimes I win. I find it really hard to do my homework as I get distracted by my little brother and I don't have another room to work in peace."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "Every child should have somewhere safe to live, and councils have a duty to provide temporary accommodation to those who need it."

They added they were providing money to "tackle all types of homelessness".

Last year the British government said it wanted to end homelessness completely in England by 2027.

Both the Scottish and Welsh governments have said they are committed to relieving homelessness too.

If you are worried or affected by this issue click here for advice or call Childline on 0800 1111.