Emma Youle: ‘This is Britain’s Housing System in 2020: A Two-Part Investigation’
HuffPost UK
For a year, Emma Youle carried out interviews with two families living in temporary homeless housing for her special two-part investigation for HuffPost UK. Her reporting focuses on the experience of living in one room, with access to shared kitchens and bathrooms. Because these families are housed, and not in public view like rough sleepers, conditions in this type of homeless accommodation are often hidden. The reporting spotlights the severe overcrowding they face and the toll it takes on mental health. Their stories are also documented through the pandemic, to track its impact on some of the UK’s most vulnerable households. In the second part of the investigation, Emma explored the wider housing crisis and analysed government data to reveal how it deepened sharply in the early months of the pandemic.
Emma Youle is an award-winning investigative journalist who worked for regional newspapers before joining HuffPost UK as special correspondent. She has covered stories including the contaminated blood scandal, the housing crisis, historic child abuse, and won the Private Eye Paul Foot Award 2017 for her reporting exposing conditions inside homeless hostels.
