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Voices of families and children living in temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Comparisons of the Australian and UK experiences.

Authors: Matthew Ankers¹, Yvonne Parry^{1, 2}, Monica Lakhanpal³, Nina Sivertsen^1,4, Eileen Willis^{1, 5}, and Nadia Svirydzenka⁶

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Australia.
Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University, Australia.
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, United Kingdom.
Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT Arctic University of Norway, Norway.
School of Graduate Research, Central Queensland University, Australia
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, UK.

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Background

Temporary accommodation refers to people housed in emergency accommodation like a motel or shelter, people staying with friends or family, and/or those who couch surf, mainly due to being homeless (Rosenthal et al. 2020; AIHW 2018).
In the UK, there was a national increase in the number of households living in temporary accommodation, during the pandemic (Wilson & Barton 2023).
Of those households living in temporary accommodation during the pandemic, Wilson and Barton (2023) report that as of June 2022, there were 120, 710 dependent children amongst their numbers.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those experiencing temporary accommodation varied across Australia.
In some states, the pandemic increased demand for temporary accommodation as individuals became unemployed, were evicted or became victims of domestic violence (AIHW 2022).
There was also an increase in unmet service need within the specialist homelessness services sector during the pandemic (AIHW 2022).

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

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Background

This presentation draws on two pieces of research from the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, which explored the impact of temporary accommodation, and the COVID-19 pandemic, on children and their families.

Research in the UK was overseen by the CHAMPIONS project (Children in Homeless Accommodations Managing Pandemic Invisibility, Or Non-inclusive Strategies).
The CHAMPIONS project, in late 2020, commissioned the Children’s Society to conduct a study of families with young people aged 10 to 18 years (presented here), (Lakhanpaul et al. 2023).
The Australian investigation was conducted by researchers from the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University.
It explored family’s living in temporary accommodation, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to better understand the difficulties, as well as the potential benefits, they experienced (Parry et al. 2021).

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Methods in the UK study

A qualitative longitudinal approach was used to collect data at two different time points, with members of the same cohort (Audulv et al. 2022; Polit & Beck 2017).
Initial data collection included interviews with 11 young people, aged 10-18 years, and one mother regarding their experiences of living in temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, in mid 2021.
Secondary data collection included interviews with 4 young people from the original cohort, in late 2021, to explore themes raised in the initial interviews, in more detail.
Recruitment of families with young people for interview involved liaising with community organisations, and local housing authority's, who helped identify potential families for inclusion.
Informed consent was sought from both parents and the young people.
Interviews were transcribed verbatim, thematically analysed, and examined both separately and together to better understand the impact of temporary accommodation and the COVID-19 pandemic, on these people's lives.

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Methods in the Australian study

The Australian study used qualitative research interviews to collect data (Patton 2015)
5 families, all female heads of households and their children, living in temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, were interviewed regarding their experiences of these events, in mid to late 2020.
Recruitment of families involved liaising with case managers at a specialist homeless service, who discussed the research with families, and if they were interested, arranged a time for interview.
On the day of the interview, researchers explained the study in full, before seeking informed consent.
Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed, to better understand the impact of temporary accommodation and the COVID-19 pandemic, on the families lives.

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Results - Reactions to temporary accommodation

In the UK study, the inappropriateness of the temporary accommodation was often noted.
One common issue was accommodation being too small for the family, as the mother of one family stated:

‘the situation we were in, we could only have one room within the hotel, it was really tight for us three to be able to move around, to be there comfortably ‘

While the daughter reflected:

‘...especially when we were at the hotel I had to like wake up, go to school, come back, stay in that room, revise, then go to sleep again. It didn’t feel like I was really living. Not like a normal kid’

An example of temporary accommodation for parents and children (picture CHAMPIONS Project UK)

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Results - Reactions to temporary accommodation

While in the Australian study, the temporariness of family’s accommodation was often noted, to which the the COVID-19 pandemic initially bought some minor relief, while also creating higher levels of stress, as one mother noted:

‘...my home was a temporary house also, we were supposed to be in there for a year. My lease ended in May, but they [not-for-profit homeless service] extended it due to COVID-19, which is amazing. So that made me feel like...I’m not gonna be homeless and all that, so that's a good thing. I (am) working a lot through that, yeah COVID’s a lot of stress. ...I am capable of getting a private rental, but it's like no one's looking at me. No one has. I've been trying and it's so hard. And that's why another stress...I have to find another home, but through all this COVID-19, no one really wants to’.

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Results - Different responses to the closure of schools

In both studies, families and their children discussed changes that the closure of schools had brought.
In the Australian study, some mothers noted how their children became confused by having to bring school home, for example:

‘...my sons out of whack...at home, he thought, like that’s his fun area, it's not a place where he wants to come home and do his schoolwork. ‘like Mum I'm at home, why do I have to do my schoolwork here?’

While in the British study, for some children who had been forced to move a considerable distance from their school due to existing in temporary accommodation, the closure of school meant more free time due to no commute:

’I mean sleeping was definitely different because usually, cos since we live far, we have to wake up very early and go to sleep very early, but in lockdown when we couldn’t’ go to school, it was like more usual times, like 8...when school started, so we could wake up at like 7 o’clock since we didn’t need to travel anywhere...It was just come downstairs, eat, and then log on to the computer and do learning and say hi to the teacher.

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Results - Impact on connections

In the Australian study, some family’s reported that connecting with friends and family was difficult given the restrictions such as lockdowns, and/or the fear of the virus, for example one mother noted:

‘There wasn't any connecting with any friends or any family. Because sometimes, even if you have a small cough or normal flu, they will be so scared to be connecting.’

While in the UK study, participants discussed the benefits of having more time to spend with family, due to lockdowns, for example:

Young person - ‘Before when it was time to wake up, I’d wake up and do what I had to do, I ate and went back to sleep and I was like a lazy person...during lockdown we started doing more...it was like this training fitness...it was really fun to do and it made me more fit’

Interviewer - ‘Did you do that as a family?’

Young person - ‘Yeah, we did’.

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Results - Community steps up

Participants in both research groups discussed how the community stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic to help families.

This was especially true during lockdowns and/or when families had to isolate due to contracting the virus, for example in the UK study, one young person discussed how:

‘When we had COVID, other families they came to our house, not to our house but like to outside and just gave us some food like to help us’.

In fact, in the majority of the United Kingdom interviews, there were examples of community groups (such as charities), family and/or friends stepping up during lockdowns, or when families had COVID-19 and had to isolate, to help them out.

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Results - Community steps up

While in the Australian study, the female heads of households discussed how community services assisted them to purchase food, get furniture, or even helped to ensure they were able to access government provided COVID-19 welfare benefits. As one Firsts Nations mother with a small child noted:

‘I feel like some of my community connections probably got a bit stronger because they were reaching out more and checking in. So even though playgroup finished, there was a social worker at [my child’s] Kindy that I didn't know about. And when COVID happened, she actually ... started being a social worker for me through playgroup. So that was amazing, and that was something I didn't know existed until COVID. And then she was able to help me with this place, get me furniture, and these chairs and things like that. So, I actually had stuff for the house, and she got clothes and things for my child. So, it made a huge difference when I was still trying to get on my feet here, money-wise and stuff like that, because obviously COVID didn't exactly help with the extra finances and moving.’

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Concluding remarks

The two study, while not completely comparable due to employing different approaches, do make for an interesting comparison of responses regarding school closures, and to what was front and centre for these families regarding their temporary accommodation status.
It was also interesting to note how the community, and community sector ‘stepped up’ in both countries to help those in need.
In both research studies, government level responses to the corona viruses such as lockdowns and social distancing, placed additional strain on these already vulnerable groups, but as also noted, some positives were also evident.

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References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022). Specialist homelessness services annual report 2019-20. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/specialist-homelessness-services-annual-report/contents/policy-framework-for-reducing-homelessness-and-service-response#COVID-19

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018). Homelessness services. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-services/homelessness-services/glossary

Audulv, Å., Hall, E.O.C., Kneck, Å., Westergren, T., Pedersen, M., Aagaard. H., Dam, K. & Ludvigsen, M. (2022). Qualitative longitudinal research in health research: a method study. BMC Med Res Methodol, 22(255)

Lakhanpaul, M., Parry, Y., Ankers, M., Mahony, S., Roberts, R., Heys, M., Ucci, M., Raghavan, R. & Svirydzenka N. (2023). Exploring children’s experiences of living in temporary accommodation during COVID-19 lockdowns to establish its impact on wellbeing. Poster no. 382, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health conference.

Parry, Y., Ankers, M. Sivertsen, N. & Willis, E. (2021) Where is community during COVID-19? The experiences of families living in housing insecurity, Health & Social Care in the Community, DOI: 10.1111/hsc.13645

Patton, M. (2015). Qualitative research and Evaluation methods, 4th ed. Sage Publications.

Polit, D. & Beck, C. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10^th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Rosenthal, D. Ucci, M. Heys, M., Hayward, A. & Lakhanpaul, M. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable children in temporary accommodation in the UK. The Lancet Public Health, 5(5), E241-E242, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30080-3

Wilson, W. & Barton, C. (2023). Households in temporary accommodation (England). UK Parliament - House of Commons Library. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02110/

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