Act on crowded housing, MPs urged

London Mayor Boris Johnson has urged MPs to show children living in overcrowded homes the same concern as they have shown battery chickens.

More than 270 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling for better living conditions for chickens.

The mayor and Shelter are calling on the government to rewrite definitions of overcrowding, which they say was promised in 2004. About 330,000 children in London live in overcrowded homes, Shelter says.

Current legislation passed in 1935 means a family of four living in a one-bedroom flat are not classed as being in overcrowded accommodation.

Shelter’s director of policy and campaigns, Kay Boycott, said the number of children living in overcrowded homes has gone up 10 per cent in two years. ‘People cannot afford to move to larger homes when they have children,’ she said.

‘The legal standard for accommodation needs to be rewritten by government. Living in confined conditions has a devastating effect on family life, especially children’s safety, health and education,’ she added.