Pupils in Camden who use services offered by Doorstep, a charity which works with families temporary homes, said making hostels digitally inclusive would make life better for all the families in council-run hostels.
They described how they lost out during the lockdown and how the cost of wi-fi can be too expensive in temporary homes.
They brought their campaign to the council chamber on July 17 and said that as wi-fi is provided in schools and libraries it should be available in hostels too.
Layan Alkebsi, 16, told councillors: “Having free wi-fi is important because it contributes to a better connected society.
“It promotes agile interactions beteen citizens and businesses. It enhances convenience and accesibility for residents and businesses, making it easier for them to stay connected and access information online.”
She said it also helped people apply for jobs and sixth form and university places and it reduces the cost of mobile data.
However she said the cost of wi-fi can be prohibitive.
Layan explained: “When we move from hostels we have to pay a lot more to move contracts.
“The cost of internet is too expensive and means many families cannot afford to put it in their rooms.”
She explained that children faced further difficulties during lockdown when classes went online “and wi-fi was essential to education” and Doorstep stepped in to pay for wi-fi for the families.
Doorstep childen’s worker Sarah Lough told councillors when schooling went online a lot of families were not able to join in and at first schools were not ready to send out paper-based work.
She said: “A lot of families in hostels ended up falling behind in their education and that’s still going to be impacting at the moment.”
She said families in temporary accommodation are left wondering if “there is any point having a contract for 12 or 18 months if you’re not expecting to live there that long.”
If they do take out a contract they might lose money if they have to cancel.
Ubah Egal from Doorstep said: “When children went back into accommodation the impact is still felt now and we have children who are behind academically.
“We have parents who are unable to get into work because they still haven’t got connectivity, we have people getting sanctioned because they don’t have wi-fi or their data’s run out.”
She said some children were using mobile phones to try and do their school work.
Shamme Neby, who is 13, told councillors: “It is compulsory to do homework. If you don’t do homework you can’t step forward.”
She said she was not always able to log on to do homework during the pandemic as she did not have wi-fi, even though school issued laptops.
She added: “I want to improve myself so I can get good grades and hopefully to go to university as well.”
Responding to their concerns council leader Georgia Gould said one in 23 children in London now live in temporary accommodation – one child in every classroom.
She said families have told her how hard it was to do homework and stay connected with friends and praised the students for the video they made to highlight the problem.
She said: ”We’ve found the funding through our families fund to install free wi-fi in our three family hostels and will try to do that as quickly as possible.”
Cllr Gould said they would also look at providing wi-fi for families in other temporary settings such as hotels.
She added: “As a result of your campaign you have really made a difference. Thank you for pushing us.”
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