Children suffer in housing crisis

More than a million children in Britain suffer "devastating" health and education problems because of the housing crisis, a charity said today.

In London, 410,000 children live in overcrowded, unfit or emergency housing, says the Shelter report.

Analysing off icial statistics, it found homelessness among families has increased by 17 per cent since the 1997 general election, with London bearing the brunt.

Shelter estimates that almost 100,000 of the 410,000 London children in poor housing are in property unfit for human habitation. Almost 22,000 children have no permanent home.

The charity found people who live on deprived estates are twice as likely to be victims of crime and more prone to develop diseases such as bronchitis, TB or asthma.

Shelter plans to lobby the Government and mobilise the public against "the dark side of the housing boom and growing levels of inequality".