The hope of home at Christmas

Our Senior Policy and Research Officer, Wendy Dearden reflects on the realities of living in temporary accommodation during the festive season

As the shop shelves bulge with the glitz of potential presents, and the TV adverts show images of a wonderful family celebration in a beautiful home, I can’t help feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. I need to write a list … I need to get organised so it’s all perfect … 

But with a deep breath, and a moment of reflection, I really don’t have it that bad. I know where we will be waking up on Christmas Day morning, in our own beds, in our own home. We can wander around in our pyjamas in a place of warmth and safety. Our family and friends can visit and stay if they want. And I can enjoy cooking food for us all in our – sometimes unpredictable – oven.  

These simple things would be the best Christmas present in themselves for the one in every 215 households in Wales living in temporary accommodation. 

The Bevan Foundation’s recent work has highlighted the challenging conditions that record numbers are being forced to live in.

Our report Nowhere to call home: Living in temporary accommodation is a bleak read, highlighting the record levels of homelessness in Wales and evidencing the realities of life living in temporary accommodation – a life in limbo. 

Particularly for the households living in a B&B room, the worry isn’t whether the oven is big enough for the turkey, but whether there is an oven at all, or even a microwave. Many have to rely on costly takeaways or food being provided by others. 

Temporary accommodation can be a chaotic environment with many cases sharing their concerns about personal safety. Wandering around in your Christmas pyjamas is not quite the same when your family is cooped up in a single, overcrowded room and you’re sharing a bathroom with strangers.  

Seeing family over the festive season may be something to look forward to. However, temporary accommodation which is not self-contained may have “house rules” – intended to manage the fact that lots of people are living closely together – which can restrict freedom of movement. Family members are unlikely to be able to come to stay in the temporary accommodation and a night away with family may be grounds for eviction. 

Possibly the hardest thing about living in temporary accommodation is the uncertainty of not knowing how long you are going to be there.

It is commonplace for people to be moved frequently between placements as vacancies arise elsewhere. One case we heard about had lived in seven different placements in one year. Accommodation availability can also change across the year and particularly during the festive season.  

It’s important to realise that a life in temporary accommodation isn’t that temporary, with households living with this uncertainty for prolonged periods of months and, in some cases, years. 40% of those living in temporary accommodation at the end of March 2024 had been there for over 6 months and 18% for over a year. 

At the Bevan Foundation, we believe that the key to getting people moved on from temporary accommodation is to boost the supply of social homes.

The key to a social home would make an amazing Christmas present. It is the only tenure that can provide a truly affordable, secure and sustainable housing option for those on the lowest incomes. It’s also the best place for those who have experienced the trauma of homelessness to rebuild their lives. 

But, as our latest work has highlighted, we don’t have enough social homes in Wales for the growing numbers who need them. Welsh Government’s target for 20,000 for in the social rented sector by 2026 is unlikely to be met. If it was, it probably wouldn’t touch the sides of how many we actually need. Nowhere to call home: the shortage of social and community homes describes the complex web of policy and system barriers which are preventing homes being built at the pace and scale which they are needed. 

We’ve made the case for how bad things are, and how desperately they need to change. Now it’s time to find solutions and give hope to those in temporary accommodation this Christmas. 

By donating to our Christmas appeal, you’ll be helping us to find ways to provide a decent home for people stuck in temporary accommodation and to make sure there are enough social homes to go around. We’ll be looking for solutions and persuading decision-makers to take the action which is needed to help those households who have been failed by the shortage of affordable and secure housing options in the housing market. 

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