Needy families in limbo as Britain struggles with housing shortage

London

IN A CRAMPED apartment in an industrial zone in south London, Sandra Rumkiene recounts her struggles to bring up a baby as one of a growing number of poor families forced to live in temporary housing.

Lorries race past Ms Rumkiene's building at all hours and the 84 apartments, housed in a chilly converted office rented by the state through a private landlord, is near a waste plant whose stench wafts in.