New report from 4in10 London’s Child Poverty Network in partnership with the Cardinal Hume Centre

At least 97,000 children in London are homeless – roughly equivalent to one child in every classroom. Child poverty is at the root of their homelessness.

A new report from 4in10 London’s Child Poverty Network in partnership with network members, the Cardinal Hume Centre and New Horizon Youth Centre, examines how systemic failures in housing, welfare, and support services perpetuate child homelessness across the capital.

In his foreword to the report, George O'Neill, Cardinal Hume Centre's chief executive, writes:

'It matters profoundly where children and young people grow up.

No child should have to grow up homeless, burdened by poverty, instability or trauma. Yet the evidence in this report shows once again that homelessness and child poverty are not separate issues. They are deeply and persistently intertwined.

We know that the strongest predictor of adult homelessness is childhood poverty. When young people experience homelessness early in life, that instability too often echoes into adulthood. Breaking this cycle requires us to recognise a simple truth: an effective strategy to reduce child poverty is, at its core, a strategy to prevent homelessness.

Achieving this demands more than small adjustments. It calls for reform of our welfare system and a meaningful increase in the supply of genuinely affordable homes. But it also requires something else: an honest understanding of what it feels like to live inside a system that too often fails the very people it is meant to support.

That is why the voices of young people, children and families with lived experience of homelessness must be central. Their lives do not fit neatly within the rigid structures of siloed and overstretched public services. Trusting those services can be difficult when access is limited, waiting lists are long, and rising demand meets shrinking resources.

Government cannot address these challenges alone. Tackling homelessness and child poverty effectively requires new forms of partnership with specialist, community-based organisations like those involved in this report. These organisations see people’s lives in their full complexity and are able to offer the joined-up, compassionate support that public systems often struggle to provide.

Any serious action must break down the silos that isolate services and fragment support. It must start from the lived experience of those most affected, ensuring that they are not left feeling marginalised or invisible but understood, supported and heard.

Thank you to 4in10 for joining this endeavour and thank you to everyone who contributed to this research. I hope it will help our learning and call for positive change together.'

Read the report in full here.

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