Debt trap nation: How England is failing homeless mothers and children

In the English dictionary, a trap is something that allows entry but not exit. It catches hold and doesn’t let go. In England today, too many families are caught in just such a trap – not through personal failure, but because of a system designed to fail them.

Our new book Debt Trap Nation tells the stories of single mothers navigating rent arrears, spiralling debt, and life in temporary accommodation. Alongside 169,050 children living in hotels, B&Bs and other types of temporary accommodation, these women are trapped in a vicious cycle they did not create. Debt is not just causing homelessness – it prolongs it and often follows families long after they leave temporary accommodation.

Single mothers, especially those on low incomes, bear the brunt. One in 38 single mothers are homeless, they represent one-third of all households in temporary accommodation, and although making up only 7% of the population, they represent a quarter of StepChange Debt Charity clients.

Read more:

• Number of children in temporary accommodation in England hits new record high
• Homelessness ‘should not exist in a country that values human life’, says Alt-J star Gus Unger-Hamilton
• Alison McGovern: ‘Homelessness crisis is a reminder of how politics can fail people. It cannot continue’

So how did England create this trap? A mix of policies centred on privatisation, austerity, welfare cuts and decimating public services has left women particularly vulnerable. Spiralling private rents, unaffordable childcare, coercive debt and predatory debt collection only compound the crisis. Add domestic abuse and systemic gender inequalities, and the result is a perfect storm. Debt is not simply financial – it is a tool of control, punishment and exclusion.

Children are not spared. Temporary accommodation may provide a roof, but it does not provide a home. Families are shunted abruptly between properties, relocated far from schools, and forced to endure cramped, unsafe, and damp conditions. Between 2019 and 2024, 74 children died with temporary accommodation being recorded as a contributing factor.

Domestic abuse compounds the problem. Survivors are often financially controlled or forced into debt by perpetrators. Leaving a violent relationship can mean walking away with nothing but debts and few if any housing options. Debt can worsen once living in temporary accommodation, and local authority housing allocation policies add fuel onto the fire. Our research found that 88% of local authorities in England have disqualification rules linked to housing-related debt, and fewer than one in five exempt domestic abuse survivors. In December 2023 alone, Freedom of Information Act requests we submitted revealed that 3,797 households were barred from social housing due to debt-related rules – more than 1,500 of them included children.

Even for the families who do manage to secure social housing, debt does not disappear. Lack of flooring, substandard homes, ongoing repair costs, and unexpected bills often force families into borrowing. Life after homelessness is not necessarily debt-free; it is a continuous negotiation with a system that fails to provide safe and affordable housing.

The debt trap is built on systemic failure, not personal failure. Single mothers are doing their best under impossible circumstances, sustaining children and communities with resilience and courage. What is owed to them is recognition, protection and opportunity.

Systemic change is possible. Building social housing is vital, but it must be paired with passing and enforcing the Decent Homes Standard, reforming debt-related housing allocation rules, raising universal credit and local housing allowance, scrapping the two-child benefit cap, and investing in affordable childcare. Domestic abuse prevention and specialist services must be adequately funded. Local authorities must prioritise empathy, practical support, and harm reduction, giving women and children the “ledges” they need to climb out of the trap.

The national conversation must shift. England owes women and mothers a debt for the work of raising children, one that has rarely been acknowledged. It is time to repay it. Now is the moment to dismantle the debt trap, piece by piece, and build a society where all children and their mothers can thrive.

Katherine Brickell is the professor of urban studies at King’s College London. Mel Nowicki is the associate professor of urban geography at Oxford Brookes University. Their book Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State is out now. All royalties will be donated to the Surviving Economic Abuse charity.

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