This doll’s house shows ‘grim reality’ of life for children in temporary accommodation

A doll’s house showcasing dangerous and overcrowded temporary accommodation is on display at three IKEA stores around England to raise alarm on the homelessness crisis.

IKEA has teamed up with housing charter Shelter to create the ‘Unwelcome Home’ doll’s house to draw attention to the record-high 151,630 children growing up in temporary accommodation across England – around one in every 78 kids.

The tiny house, on show at the flatpack furniture giant’s London Wembley, Manchester and Birmingham stores, features cramped rooms with mouldy walls, TVs and microwaves next to makeshift beds and toasters and dangerous wiring sat precariously next to sinks.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Temporary accommodation truly is horrifying, with families crammed into emergency hostels and grotty B&Bs often miles away from their schools and jobs. Through our partnership with IKEA, we’re showing the grim reality facing the one in 78 children growing up homeless in this country, from being forced to share beds with their siblings, or bathrooms with strangers, to dangerous and damp conditions.

“With rents at a record high, evictions rising and so few social homes available, we desperately need government action. The only way to help families into a safe and secure home and end homelessness is to build genuinely affordable social homes – we need 90,000 a year for ten years.”

The number of children living in temporary accommodation has surged by 15% in the last year with a shortage of social homes, rising evictions and sky-high private rents driving homelessness.

Unsurprisingly, the three biggest cities in England also have some of the highest rates of children living in temporary accommodation with one in 22 children without a permanent stable home in London compared to one in 28 in Birmingham and one in 30 in Manchester. 

Three-quarters of families living in temporary accommodation find themselves in poor conditions with one in five experiencing a safety hazard while more than two-thirds lack basic facilities to cook or wash clothes.

More than one in three parents said their children don’t even have their own bed, Shelter said.

The housing charity joined forces with IKEA back in 2022 with the pair partnering to raise awareness of the housing emergency and calling on the government to build more genuinely affordable social homes.

The doll’s house is the latest attempt to convince ministers to intervene in the housing crisis with people urged to sign an open letter calling on the government to build 90,000 social rent homes each year for the next 10 years.

So far, Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million homes while in power over the next five years, but has yet to commit to a specified number of social homes.

Hiliary Jenkins, partnerships lead at IKEA UK and Ireland, said: “Our ‘Unwelcome Home’ doll’s houses are there to encourage customers to take a closer look at the issues right on their doorsteps, as we call on the government to build a new generation of social rent homes for families, to help tackle the housing emergency.”

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