We have the money and land to build houses — let’s do it Leo

We are raising a generation of children without hope because we are unwilling or unable to start building local authority houses again, writes Fergus Finlay

IT MAY sound harsh but it’s true. In 20 years time, we’ll be populating our prisons with the children we’re neglecting now.

And maybe in 20 years time we’ll be setting up a tribunal of enquiry to try to figure out how we so badly let down a generation of young children. We’ll look back and say, “3,000 homeless children in a rapidly growing economy. What a scandal that was. How in the name of heaven did we allow that to happen?” Of course, it will be too late then. A child raised in homelessness has a much higher chance of starting school behind, and struggling in his or her early years in school. That child has a much higher chance, as a direct consequence, of dropping out of school early. A much higher chance of getting involved in gangs, in antisocial behaviour, in criminality, and in jail. A much lower chance of holding down a career, of building good relationships.