In everyday speech, people may use lots of different words or terms. ‘Street children’ and ‘homeless children’ or homeless youth might be used interchangeably, but there are some differences.
Not all children who are homeless end up living in the open on the street. Many end up sleeping in very inappropriate but out of sight places – on the floors of friends or strangers, or sleeping in temporary accommodation like hostels. For example, the homeless charity Shelter estimated in 2018 that as many as 9,500 UK children have spent their Christmas in a hostel or other temporary accommodation, often with one family in a single room, sharing bathrooms and kitchens with other residents who they don’t know or trust.
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