Nearly 122,000 young people faced homelessness last year

Almost 122,000 young people in the UK approached their council for help with securing accommodation between April 2020 and March 2021, according to new data from the national youth homelessness charity Centrepoint.

Moreover, only 66% of the young people that presented as homeless or at risk were assessed, compared to 71% in the previous year. This means that a third of young people presenting as homeless are not getting an initial assessment to determine their support needs.

Of the young people that approached their council for help, only 37% had a positive outcome, meaning six in ten presentations ended without the young person having their homelessness prevented or a housing solution found.

Research also also reveals the number of young people becoming homeless in England because of family breakdown has increased from 45% to 49% last year. The charity suggests that this could be down to increased tensions felt in the households of young people during the pandemic lockdowns.

National and local lockdowns led to the sudden disappearance of support networks and informal accommodation arrangements that many would have relied on to alleviate their homelessness, particularly those facing domestic abuse.

A Centrepoint Helpline staff member said: ‘We saw a lot of people getting furloughed, loss of income, but also pressure cooker environments: not being able to leave home…that exacerbated any family tensions, and not being able to sofa surf, which is what so many of our young people end up doing.’

Domestic violence was the second most common driver of youth homelessness in England during the first year of the pandemic – and the number of young people reporting it also increased compared to the previous years. In 2019 7.9% faced homelessness because of domestic abuse and this figure has risen to 9.3% in the following year.

The Everyone In initiative to get rough sleepers off the streets was also rolled out during this period, and was designed to end rough sleeping during the first lockdown. At least 5,600 young people were housed through the Everyone In scheme over April 2020 to the end of March 2021.

A local authority in South East England commented: ‘Now that Everyone In is ending our big challenge is we’ve still got about 300 people in the hotels, and we need to rehouse them, and that’s a big challenge. So there will be a temporary spike in street homelessness and young people will be affected.’

Balbir Chatrik, Centrepoint’s director of policy said: ’It’s clear from our findings that the Homelessness Reduction Act is failing young people in crisis. This year we have seen the number of young people facing homelessness rise at a time when the government pulled out all the stops to prevent people ending up on the streets. Even more concerning though is the fact that an increasing number of these young people were not even assessed, let alone given the support they so desperately needed.’

‘This simply shouldn’t be happening – but the experience of the last year or so makes clear the current approach of throwing money at piecemeal rough sleeping initiatives won’t change things. Instead, if ministers want to see rough sleeping end and homelessness reduced they can start by ensuring the Act is properly resourced.’

‘Funding is only part of the story here though. Homelessness devastates too many young people’s lives and ultimately ends up costing more money than preventing and making timely interventions ever will. Despite this, the government continues to prioritise older rough sleepers and more visible types of homelessness with no strategy for supporting the thousands of young people with no safe place to stay.’

In related news, analysis has shown that 60% of all homeless adults living in temporary accommodation in England are women, despite only making up 51% of the general population.

Photo by Ev