At Kineara, we meet households and families at times of extreme vulnerability and precarity, when they are experiencing life’s most challenging times. At such times of uncertainty, issues rarely arise in silos: households are dealing with interconnected complexities of financial hardship, trauma, relationship breakdown, parenting difficulties or isolation.
Risk of eviction, homelessness or any housing precarity compounds these issues, and at the grassroots level, we often see families with single parents doubly affected by systemic barriers.
Single parent families are almost 4 times more likely to be at risk of homelessness in England, according to Shelter. Low income, employment challenges and shortage of social housing forces families into temporary housing. In Lambeth, single female parent families alone make up over 53% of all residents in temporary accommodation (TA), far above the national figure of 35% for single parents (both male & female).
We already know the impact of this disproportionate representation. Temporary accommodation impacts every single aspect of family life. Living in TA severely impacts children’s well-being, disrupts their learning, and worsens their health and mental health. Parents face constant uncertainty and stress. Despite this group being evidently disadvantaged, we cannot group their needs under one category. Each family faces different challenges with unique, intersecting needs.
- One of our clients, a single mother with a 3-year-old son with autism, was forced to move into a new temporary accommodation every week.
- Another family remains in temporary accommodation for 21 years, where children have grown into adults and are now living in overcrowded housing.
- After being evicted, a client lives in constant fear and severe anxiety about losing her temporary housing.
The lived reality of temporary accommodation highlights the urgency of addressing issues for this cohort with a person-centred approach.
Kineara is proud to be a Homewards Lambeth Coalition member, and have recently been awarded a grant from The Homewards Fund to help support our work to address these multi-layered, distinct needs of families with single parents in TA in Lambeth, one of the most affected areas in London.
The Homewards Fund has made our drop-in housing surgeries possible. These are embedded in community spaces for lone parents, such as children’s and well-being centres, offering varying degrees of support and engagement based on the families’ needs. When families need intensive assistance, our practitioner offer specialised, flexible and holistic guidance that meets families where they are, walking alongside them as a trusted ally. Our pan London advice line extends the support to anyone seeking general advice and quick guidance on housing or related issues, ensuring that a wide variety of engagement is available for families and individuals.
”Because it is person centred, it makes a huge difference,” says Kineara practitioner, Alfa Djalo. “This is an approach where we are working alongside each other to reach the positive outcome that they are looking for.”
Building pathways to meaningful change for these families requires a bird’s eye approach: through establishing collaborations across all 5 indicators of well-being, we ensure families feel safe, seen and heard.
Meaningful change for these families also requires flexibility at its core: each family is different and needs collective and creative working that is informed by their lived experiences.
Over the last three months since the project started, families have shared their relief, and joy, of being supported and understood. One client shared, “You guys literally saved my life.”
Single parents are too often at the frontline of the housing crisis and show remarkable resilience. Together with our partners, we aim to provide holistic support that create stable foundations for meaningful change and hope.
