Katharine Swindells

Temporary accommodation is even worse for neurodivergent children, but councils can do better There may be tens of thousands of neurodivergent children in temporary accommodation. Katharine Swindells talks to families who are struggling to cope.

“She’s hurting herself rather than studying, because our lives are so disrupted. She deserves a safe, stable home life"

Incredible grateful to the five mothers who spoke to me about how temporary accommodation is affecting their neurodivergent child
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/temp...

Paula Barker: how Labour can ‘get our sh*t together’ on homelessness Paula Barker spent less than a year as shadow homelessness minister. Now she’s advocating for homelessness from the back benches. Katharine Swindells meets her.

An interesting insight here into one of the backbench Labour MPs who has been focusing on how the government's been delivering on homelessness, or in her words how government can "get our shit together"
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/paul...

Paula Barker: how Labour can ‘get our sh*t together’ on homelessness Paula Barker spent less than a year as shadow homelessness minister. Now she’s advocating for homelessness from the back benches. Katharine Swindells meets her.

"There are certain things we can’t compromise on"

I chatted to Paula Barker MP, co-chair of the homelessness APPG, about tarot, the electoral threat of the right and left, and what more she wants to see from the Labour Party on housing.
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/paul...

Domestic homicide: what can housing learn when the worst happens? Inside Housing analysed 76 domestic homicide reviews to pull out the crucial lessons for housing teams. Katharine Swindells reports.

An essential and sobering report on homicides and suicides where domestic abuse and housing come into play, based on detailed analysis of 75 domestic homicide reviews by @kathyswinds.bsky.social
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/dome...

Supporting survivors of domestic abuse must be core to our fight against homelessness The government has a generational opportunity to tackle the homelessness emergency and women must be at the forefront of that strategy, writes MP Paula Barker.

Domestic abuse is a housing issue. The cycle of abuse and homelessness is one we can and must break.

Thank you to @kathyswinds.bsky.social & @insidehousing.bsky.social

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/supporting-survivors-of-domestic-abuse-must-be-core-to-our-fight-against-homelessness-94622

thanks Andy!! really enjoyed working on it!

Something a bit different from me today! Really enjoyed spending a few mornings riding South London's night buses for this piece for @londonermag.bsky.social and love any opportunity to combine narrative storytelling with data journalism

www.the-londoner.co.uk/meet-londons...

Leadership 2025 aimed to diversify housing sector top jobs. In its target year, what comes next? Leadership 2025 was founded to support minority ethnic senior professionals to become sector leaders. Katharine Swindells finds out what is next for the organisation.

Leadership 2025 was set up with the aim of boosting the numbers of ethnic minority people in housing's top jobs by this year. So what comes next? @kathyswinds.bsky.social went along to one of its board meetings to find out

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/lead...

How Croydon Council got its regulatory notice lifted Four years ago, the disrepair at Croydon’s Regina Road Estate shocked ITV viewers and led to regulatory intervention. The council has now improved services. Katharine Swindells reports.

Four years ago, Croydon Council found itself leading the ITV news over disrepair at its Regina Road estate. The regulatory notice on the council has only just been lifted. My colleague @kathyswinds.bsky.social has done a great deep dive on what's happened

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/how-...

NUJ celebrates recognition at the New Statesman and Progressive Media Investments The NUJ has secured recognition at the distinguished political magazine the New Statesman and the global publisher Progressive Media Investments (PMI).

So so pleased and proud that after four long years, New Statesman and PMI have recognised the union.

Massive credit to all the staff past and present who worked so hard to achieve this, especially the team who finally got it over the line
www.nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj...

thank you jenny!!!

So honoured to be a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness, for my work on toddlers and babies living in temporary accommodation

You can read my shortlisted work here
www.orwellfoundation.com/homelessness...

As I was sifting through the hundreds of FOI responses to update to our young children in temporary accommodation data dashboard, I spotted what looked like a mistake - one council had a 90% reduction in three months.

But it wasn't a mistake. Read more here ⤵️

The estate where tenants are taking collective legal action on damp and mould Tenants on one east London estate are teaming up to file a joint legal claim about the damp and mould in their homes. Katharine Swindells reports

A new report into Peabody's Nag's Head estate found that 58% of households surveyed have had someone develop a respiratory condition since they moved in
www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/london-...

I dug into the case of Nag's Head for this piece last year
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-...

cheers stephen!!

Major councils change data collection on children in temporary accommodation after Inside Housing investigation Several councils confirmed they changed their reporting system since Inside Housing launched its tracker on the number of children living in temporary housing.

Nice to highlight the wins for a change.
@kathyswinds.bsky.social has been smashing it with this campaign:
www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/major-c...

🏡 "It feels like I’m fighting fires with a cup of water"

🏙️ "I’m not able to be a friend, support worker, councillor, doctor and housing officer to every tenant"

Fascinating findings from our survey of frontline social housing staff, check it out ⤵️

The whole site is 🔓 paywall free for the first two weeks, so please do have an explore and share with your colleagues, and let us know what you think!

www.insidehousingmanagement.co.uk

So excited that @ihmanagement.bsky.social has launched today - our new online publication aimed at housing officers and staff on the front line in social housing, to help them provide excellent services and develop their careers.

www.insidehousingmanagement.co.uk

“Social housing should be the new Airbnb of property,” Mr Wicks says. “…And it is difficult, because social housing has probably some of the most boring people that exist in this sector, I think.”

So many great details in this piece by James, give it a read!

A new report out today reveals that 80 children have died in temporary accommodation in the year to September 2023.

Imagine being a parent living in a B&B room with your family, and reading that statistic

The housing act from 1988 that shaped the sector today Margaret Thatcher’s government spearheaded major reforms with the Housing Act 1988. Stephen Delahunty digs into the archives and speaks to two of the key players.

Had fun going back and forth to the National Archives on this to help mark @insidehousing.bsky.social's 40th anniversary year.
👉Wanted to put “true cost of council housing” on a “more business-like footing”
👉Concern "left-wing activists will take over" trusts
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-...

Homeless, vulnerable, but not a priority As local authorities struggle with the numbers of people turning to them for homelessness help, many are left to fend for themselves. Katharine Swindells investigates.

As the homelessness numbers continue to rise, so are the numbers of people refused council help because they're ‘not vulnerable enough’. Are councils really getting stricter? And what’s it like to be one of these people turned away?

Read my piece here ⤵️
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/home...

A really busy week for us at @insidehousing.bsky.social towers - and more crucial than ever given the funding announcements for the homelessness sector. Looking for something to read in your last few days before Christmas - give these a read!

How many toddlers and babies are living in temporary accommodation in the UK? Inside Housing’s latest quarterly update to its live data dashboard reveals the numbers of households with children aged under five living in temporary accommodation and B&Bs

And the latest update of our tracker reveals there were 36,900 families with young children in temporary accommodation in June, up 14% yoy www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/how-...

The doctor-turned-campaigner for homeless children The Shared Health Foundation’s campaign led to the government changing its guidance on providing cots in temporary accommodation. Katharine Swindells speaks to CEO Dr Laura Neilson about the next stag...

“If you poured loads more money into this problem, would you solve it?”

Dr Laura Neilson from @sharedhealthgm.bsky.social had a strong message for the sector as she continues her fight to end child deaths in temporary accommodation
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-...

A night shelter for trans people struggles to find funding Jess McCabe reports from The Outside Project’s new transgender-specific emergency accommodation, as it prepares to open its doors. Why is this accommodation needed, and what has the organisation learn...

And @jessmccabe.bsky.social visited the new Trans Winter Night Shelter to find out how funding pressures are affecting services for this marginalised community
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/a-ni...

Homeless, vulnerable, but not a priority As local authorities struggle with the numbers of people turning to them for homelessness help, many are left to fend for themselves. Katharine Swindells investigates.

We have my investigation into how growing numbers of vulnerable homeless people are refused support from their council, as LAs buckle under the weight of statutory duties
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/home...

Reset Homelessness: ‘The system cannot continue as it is’ Inside Housing and Homeless Link’s new campaign, Reset Homelessness, calls for a systemic review of homelessness funding in England. Jess McCabe reports.

Inside Housing has joined forces with Homeless Link for the Reset Homelessness campaign. This week we’ve launched with a whole week of content covering the homelessness funding crisis

🧵 a thread ⤵️
www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/rese...