Health, Homelessness, and Hope: Children in Temporary Accommodation

Across the world, the experience of homelessness and unstable housing is taking a serious toll on children’s health and wellbeing. Whether in the UK, Australia, or beyond, children growing up in temporary accommodation face profound challenges such as disrupted education, limited access to healthcare, food insecurity and physical and psychological trauma. Despite being a widespread issue, their voices are too often overlooked – and there is very little global cooperation on finding common solutions.

This was the central focus of my Churchill Fellowship, which took me to Australia to explore how different systems respond to the needs of children living in temporary accommodation. My aim was to develop UK-Australia knowledge exchange, identifying policies, public sector practices and community-led initiatives that could inform more effective, compassionate responses in both countries.

In Adelaide, I was hosted by Dr Yvonne Parry of Flinders University and her team at the Caring Futures Institute, where I saw award-winning projects tackling children’s health needs. I also attended a conference with charities led by Nat Cook, Minister for Health and Wellbeing, and experienced different ways art could be used to share stories at the Adelaide Fringe Festival – ideas I plan to feed into my work at UCL.

Later in Brisbane and Sydney, I met staff working at the forefront of research and health service provision organisations.

These meetings highlighted the importance of health equity, cultural understanding, and respect for the First Nations communities, alongside the need for culturally sensitive service provision. Services need to value culture and heritage as an asset to child wellbeing, not a deficit. One Australian solution I hope to see in the UK is outreach provision – taking holistic support into communities so children can be assessed in familiar settings without feeling judged. Partnerships between health and social care professionals and community link workers help build trust and tailor the services more effectively. When those workers families’ cultural heritage, access improves and health outcomes for children are stronger.

Back in the UK in Scotland, this work is already under way. In March 2025, we launched the ‘In Their Own Words’ report, a De Montfort University and University College London collaboration with Shelter Scotland which shares the lived experiences of children navigating the homelessness system. These first-hand accounts – raw, insightful and often distressing – were presented in the Scottish Parliament. The report has since attracted national media attention, demonstrating the power of lived experience in shifting the narrative and shaping more humane housing policy.

Alongside research and policy, I remain committed to public health communication. As a regular contributor to BBC World Service’s 'Health Check', I bring global health stories to a broad audience, aiming to bridge the gap between academic insight and the public via the media.

Recently, I featured in The Guardian, discussing the health taboos of child constipation – a reminder that even seemingly simple health issues are connected to wider conversations about access, stigma, and the social determinants of health and wellbeing.

Furthermore, my Fellowship has fed into our CHAMPIONS collaboration on the NIHR PSP-REFUGEE project, aiming to address the health needs of refugee and asylum-seeking (RAS) children under 5 in the UK. These children, who make up to 18% of immigrants to the UK, face a much higher risk of poor health.

Internationally, I was recently incredibly honoured to be appointed as the first Rinti Banerjee Visiting Chair Professor at IIT Bombay, which will help me continue building collaborations on global health.

These strands – academic work, media engagement, and policy impact – remain deeply interconnected in my work. Whether discussing sanitation in a podcast or launching a report in Parliament, the underlying aim remains the same: to ensure that the health needs of the most vulnerable and underserved populations, particularly children affected by health and wellbeing inequalities such as unstable housing, are recognised and addressed.

As my Fellowship comes to an end, I now hope to build long-term collaborations with Australia that support evidence-based, child-centred policy development, directly informed by the experiences of those most in need. We are looking towards building an international network called the Healthy Happy Homes Network and sharing experiences through a future art exhibition.

The Churchill Fellowship has provided a rare and valuable opportunity to explore this global challenge internationally, and I am committed to using this platform to advocate for systemic and sustainable change. There is much to be done, but there is also real momentum and an increasing recognition that children and families’ voices must be central to finding the best solutions.