The psychological cost was enormous. I began to feel like there was something wrong with me. Paralysed by my own self-consciousness, I started to avoid social interactions altogether and withdrew into my own bubble. I became a miserable and resentful misanthrope in my early adulthood, something that has taken years to break free from. I’m still not comfortable in my own skin. I can’t help but think that this would have been different if I’d had a conventional upbringing.

On top of the social exclusion, these children will be exposed to things they would have been sheltered from under normal circumstances. There is reported to be a drugs network operating outside Terminus House, which provides temporary accommodation for homeless people from the capital, while many of the B&Bs, hostels and other temporary housing in the UK have people struggling with drug abuse and serious mental health problems living alongside young families. It won’t be a surprise if those kids fall into that lifestyle after being desensitised to it at such a young age.

If we continue to ignore this problem, as well as the obvious solutions to it, we risk raising a generation of underprivileged children who feel worthless, alienated and only good enough for an old office block or a disused shipping container. Because we know why this is happening: austerity and lack of social housing.

We know what we need to do about it: increase spending and build enough social housing. But this government refuses to recognise the causes and is ideologically incapable of recognising the solution. This will doubtless be evident in the forthcoming conference season with endless routine Conservative pleas for personal responsibility.