What temporary accommodation really feels like for a young person

My name is Ayat, and I recently spoke at a roundtable at the Local Government Association’s annual conference as part of the 165,000 Reasons campaign. I shared my experience of homelessness and living in temporary accommodation.

I was in and out of homelessness throughout much of my late teens and early twenties. My homelessness journey began when I came out as a lesbian to a family who did not accept me. Since then, I have sofa surfed, lived in hostels, received floating support in my own tenancies and spent a significant amount of time in temporary accommodation provided by the council.

Throughout this period, I was supported by Roundabout, a youth homelessness charity working across Sheffield and Rotherham. Without them, I do not know where I would be now. Their support helped me survive my time in temporary accommodation.

My strongest memory of temporary accommodation is feeling abandoned. During my most recent experience, I lived in a Travelodge for roughly five months. Communication from the council was poor or nonexistent, and I was left without proper support.

Temporary accommodation placements were only confirmed for short periods. I repeatedly had to ask the council whether mine would be extended, often waiting until the end of the day for a text telling me where I would sleep that night. Sometimes nobody contacted me, and I had to call the out of hours number myself.

Living day by day without knowing where you will sleep makes it impossible to plan anything. You cannot focus on work, education, appointments or looking after yourself because all your energy goes into worrying about what will happen next. I stopped eating properly and spent time in hospital because of stress and my declining mental health.

I was lucky to have Roundabout constantly advocating for me. But I think about the thousands of young people and families in temporary accommodation who do not have somebody fighting their corner.

Better communication would have made an enormous difference. I needed to know who was handling my case, what was happening and when I would receive an answer. Something as simple as a text would have reduced so much anxiety.

I also had to tell different members of staff my whole story repeatedly. It was exhausting and retraumatising. Staff reading existing notes, understanding trauma and speaking to young people with kindness would help us feel respected, rather than as though we must continually prove that we deserve support.

Councils should have dedicated services for young people, with staff trained in homelessness, adverse childhood experiences, mental health and trauma. Young people’s needs and communication styles can be very different. I often felt that decisions were made about me, rather than with me.

Most importantly, every young person should have a dedicated council worker who stays with them throughout the process. Somebody who answers messages, explains decisions, checks how they are feeling and connects them with organisations like Roundabout.

Young people like me understand that councils are under pressure. We are not asking for the impossible. But being treated with kindness, dignity and respect would make an enormous difference.

Homelessness is about so much more than where somebody sleeps. Recognising that and providing the right support could change the lives of thousands of young people.