The Mayor of London has told Darren Johnson AM that he won’t support a campaign based at Save the Children to halve the number of children growing up in overcrowded housing by 2020.
24% of children in London are growing up in
overcrowded housing
The 4in10 “No Space at Home” campaign have called upon the Mayor to have a more ambitious strategy to urgently halve the number of overcrowded children by 2020.
Despite independant research showing that growing up in overcrowded conditions can have a serious impact on the health, well-being and education prospects of children, the Mayor told Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson when questioned that he will not be supporting the campaign as the GLA already has targets for reducing overcrowding.
Currently the Mayors’ Housing Strategy only includes targets for children in social housing who are severely overcrowded, leaving over 100 thousand children overcrowded in social housing alone. Overcrowding for both social and private tenants got worse during the Mayor’s first term.
Ade Sofola 4in10 Strategic Manager, said on their campaign website: ‘Overcrowding is a serious issue and it shouldn’t happen in a wealthy city like London. Growing up in cramped conditions means children are sleeping on floors or sharing beds; badly affecting their health and well-being. Their chances of doing well at school are hampered as they have no quiet space to study; disrupted sleep affects their concentration; and frequent illness leading to missed days in school drags down their results. For too long, social housing policy has failed the poorest families. Mr Johnson needs a far more focused and ambitious strategy to urgently halve the number of overcrowded children by 2020’.
Darren Johnson, a Green Party member of the London Assembly which was elected by Londoners in May 2012 to hold the Mayor accountable, commented: “Overcrowding got much worse for people renting in the Mayor’s first term. Children can’t be expected to do their homework and enjoy their childhood in such cramped conditions. It is stunting the lives of almost one in four children in the capital, so it is shocking that the Mayor won’t support the campaign to end this intolerable situation.”
Please click here to sign 4in10’s petition asking the Mayor to halve the number of children growing up in overcrowded housing in London.