Three-year-old Ezaan has been homeless his entire life. Instead of making memories in a childhood home, he has spent his formative years stuck in hotels and a cramped student dorm.
His mother, Sumaira Fareed, was made homeless more than three years ago. She was asked to leave her single persons hostel – where children were not allowed to live – after giving birth. She tended to her newborn for a month in hospital as the pair had nowhere else to go.
They were eventually placed into Oscott Gardens in Birmingham, which once housed students before being bought up and converted into temporary accommodation by the council, which also manages the site.
The sprawling complex about four miles from Birmingham city centre houses hundreds of homeless families. Those living inside face strict rules that would not go amiss in a low-security prison: no visits from friends and family, and a 10pm curfew.
The Guardian has relied on images and testimony from residents to assess the conditions inside. Those living there painted a grim picture with claims of mice infestations, cramped rooms and antisocial behaviour.
Across the road from the makeshift hostel, nearly 1,000 new-build flats lie empty. Perry Barr village was supposed to house world-class athletes staying in the city for the 2022 Commonwealth Games but, due to delays caused by Covid, they were not completed in time for the competition.
The flats have become a lightning rod of controversy for the cash-strapped council, which stands to lose an estimated £320m from the development. Last year, it sold 755 of the 968 homes to a private buyer at a “significant loss to the public purse”. The council said some of these homes were now in the process of being let, with 63 households expected to move in by June.
Nearly 500 homeless families live in the development’s shadow . Fareed, 37, never imagined their stay would last for more than two years and counting. “I’m struggling,” she said. “The situation is giving me anxiety and depression.”
Ezaan has spina bifida and needs to use a walking frame to stand. His health condition has made living in Oscott Gardens particularly difficult.
The kitchens in the block are shared. With several families cooking at once, there is usually not enough space for Ezaan to sit in his pushchair. This means he often has to remain upright on his standing frame while his mother cooks.
Bathrooms are only fitted with showers, which makes washing Ezaan a challenge. Washing machines and postboxes are located outside the block, making these simple tasks more difficult because Fareed cannot leave her son unsupervised. Sometimes important letters about his appointments are missed.
Space to crawl is vital for developing his mobility but the tiny room he spends most of his days in – and the lack of outdoor space – heavily restricts his ability to do so. Ezaan is due to start school in September but Fareed has concerns about choosing a school locally in case she is rehoused in a different part of the city.
Birmingham city council said households could request a suitability review if they believed their temporary accommodation was unsuitable and that officers would carry out a welfare check in Oscott Gardens. It said the site was staffed 24 hours a day with security and support staff to ensure “all households are kept safe and receive the support required”.
“[People in Oscott Gardens] can’t live their lives because they’ve got no routine or normality. Mentally and emotionally it has a massive impact on these families,” said Donna Prescott, the manager at Home-Start’s centre in north-west Birmingham.
The family support charity, which has six centres across the city, usually sends out volunteers to provide weekly emotional and practical support in clients’ homes. This tried-and-tested method of assisting families in need has been hampered by Oscott Gardens’ visitor ban.
“We’ve got families there in desperate need of support but we just can’t get in to do it,” said Prescott.
Only certain professionals and health visitors are allowed into the block. Among them is Vivian Ellis, the centre’s family and volunteer coordinator. “It feels very much like a prison,” said Ellis. “The only thing is they don’t have a tag on their ankle, that’s probably the difference.”
Birmingham council said restrictions on visitors were in place because it had duty to safeguard everyone, including vulnerable people, living there but those providing a professional service to a resident were free to access.
Prescott estimates about 500 to 600 children live in Oscott Gardens. The charity hosts a well-attended stay-and-play group inside the complex each week but, with “tiny” rooms and a lack of outdoor space, most children have little opportunity to play.
“They’re very bored children. There’s less play and less stimulation for them,” said Ellis. Some children have made the car park – the only outdoor space on-site – their playground.
Birmingham is in the grip of a homelessness crisis. More than 5,000 households in the city, which is England’s largest local authority, are in temporary accommodation, putting it second nationally after Newham in east London. Last year, the council said it was spending £2.2m a month on emergency accommodation. Much of it is provided by the private sector, in hotels and B&Bs.
Freedom of information requests made by the Guardian show a sharp rise in households spending years in such housing in Birmingham.
The number of households who spent between one and five years in temporary accommodation in the city rose from 209 in 2013 to 2,538 in 2023, a 1,114% rise. The number who spent more than five years in such housing rose by an astronomical 13,225% in the same 10-year period, jumping from four to 533.
Home-Start, which provides a range of services including a pay-what-you-like baby bank, is dealing with housing cases a lot more often. Prescott said the issue of temporary accommodation had “quite rapidly gotten worse” in the past two years. Of the families the centre supports, 32% are in such housing.
“We’re not housing officers. It’s really hard to tell a family that we can signpost you, or to keep bidding [for council housing], but there’s nothing more we can do for you,” said Prescott.
In recent years, London councils have dumped homeless people in the city. The social worker for one family Home-Start is supporting works for a north London council. Now, families in Birmingham face being pushed out. The Guardian spoke to one mother with a young daughter who faces eviction from the complex after turning down an offer of a private tenancy in the north-east.
Those lucky enough to escape eviction for turning down such an offer are instead moved to the bottom of the housing waiting list and forced to languish for even longer in temporary accommodation.
For many families in temporary accommodation, housing insecurity is the root cause of many struggles they face – from mental health to employment. “Housing just is becoming the bigger picture. When you’ve got a family that don’t know where they’re going to be or don’t know what’s happening with housing, it naturally takes over everything else,” said Prescott.
