Lack of housing for care leavers risks young people dying on our streets, warns charity

Paul Noblet, head of policy at national charity, Centre Point, which provides housing and support for young people regionally in Barnsley and Bradford and also in London, Manchester, and the North East, said due to fewer affordable housing being built it has become “more and more difficult,” for councils to provide that and if they can provide it to care leavers.

"The difficulty is often care leavers used to be given or entitled to social housing tenancy either through a council house or the housing association - as we are seeing few affordable housing being built, it is more and more difficult for councils to provide that and if they can provide it to care leavers," he said.

The warning comes as current figures show a third of care leavers are likely to become homeless within the first two years while a quarter of all homeless people are care-experienced.

On Saturday, The Yorkshire Post revealed that a new report from the University of Sheffield was urging the Government to substantially invest in all stages of the care journey to deliver stability and support to children when they most need it.

Across Yorkshire, Bradford has the highest number of looked after children in the region with 1,159 - a figure that has risen by 32 per cent since 2015. While in Barnsley there are 301, a rise of 25.4 per cent over the past five years.

It was also recorded that 9453 young people approached local authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber for support because they were homeless or at risk of homelessness in 2018/2019 (March to March), according to databank. While 22 per cent, of Centre Point residents in Bradford and Barnsley, have been in care at some point.

Mr Noblet said: "Our rooms are never empty for very long, there is clearly a consistent demand for support for care leavers and homeless young people more broadly - across the country, including in Yorkshire.

"We need to make sure that there continues to be a regulated supply of properties for care leavers and homeless young people but we also need to make sure they’ve got somewhere to go onto when they turn 18, 19, 20 - other wise we really risk the system silting up and that means we can’t then support that next generation of care leavers, who are 14,15,16 now who really need that quality accommodation."

Centre Point opened Bradford services in 2014, and currently supports 150 young people in the city, while it opened three years ago in Barnsley and supports 70 young people. Over a course of a year the charity supports more than 400 young people across all West and South Yorkshire services.

Mr Noblet added long-term investment was needed in Yorkshire and regional housing based projects such as Centre Point, who work with local councils to make sure suitable accomodation is available for homeless young people, including many care leavers who often find themselves on the streets after leaving the care system at 18.

He said: "We have got to get the accommodation right, and with those foundations build on it."

"It comes down to funding - we’re in a position where we can work with councils and because our funding is from the charitable sector and the kindness of people in Yorkshire and elsewhere over the country - we are able to guarantee a certain standard of support for care leavers.

"But where councils have got a bit less money and are being forced to try and accomodate young people in substandard accomodation obviously that is bad in itself but it leads onto fewer people going into further or higher education - there are issues around higher education."

Previously Vicky Ford, the Children and Families Minister, told The Yorkshire Post the Government was committed to creating more opportunities for care leavers.

She said: "Care leavers are an extremely vulnerable group of young people who face exceptional challenges as they start out on their journey to independence, because they don’t have the same family to fall back on - that other young people do and that can be really tough.

"Yes we need to make sure that there is that investment around the care leavers at all stages in the journey and another thing is to unlock employment opportunities for care leavers."

A special report by The Yorkshire Post revealed:

- A new major report, by the University of Sheffield, entitled: Journeying Through Care: Pathways to University, which aims to shape government policy and challenge the stigma associated with young people who are care experienced and to promote support.

- There are fears a lack of investment in all stages of the care journey is stifling children’s ambitions and life prospects as an underfunded social care system, with a sudden cut-off from the age of 18.

- Across Yorkshire and the Humber there are 8,568 children in care following on from official figures released earlier this year which showed levels had reached a 10-year-high - with 78,150 children in care in England at the end of March 2019.

- North Yorkshire was the only area in the region to see a decrease in figures for children in care with 428 - a decrease of four per cent compared to 2015.

- Ahead of the delayed independent care review in England, Boris Johnson’s government are being urged to substantially invest in all stages of the care journey to deliver stability and support to children when they most need it.

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