‘A winter like no other’ as numbers of youngsters sleeping rough rises

Its publication comes amid expectations that 23,000 young people will face homelessness this Christmas.

Fewer than a third of the 57 organisations surveyed believed there was sufficient support available for the growing army of rough sleepers in their area, with only one charity in five saying the homeless were being well enough looked after.

Centrepoint, one of the UK’s biggest youth homelessness charities, with a base in Yorkshire, says it is worried that a focus on “older entrenched” rough sleepers has left young people at risk of being placed into unsafe and inappropriate accommodation.

It says the development is especially concerning given an increase in youth homelessness since the start of the pandemic.

Paul Noblet, the charity’s head of public affairs, said it would be “a winter like no other” for young people without a bed of their own.

“With more and more under-25s facing time sleeping on the streets, it’s vital that the Government ring-fences funding for age-appropriate accommodation so those young people can be kept safe this winter,” he said.

Earlier this year, the charity – whose patron is the Duke of Cambridge – reported that 73 per cent per cent of councils had seen increases in homelessness between March and June, and that a similar number expected to see further increases.

Calls to Centrepoint’s helpline jumped by more than half during the first lockdown, with many more calls coming from young people sleeping rough.

Its latest survey suggests that challenges this winter could be further exacerbated as services face a backlog in demand for suitable accommodation when young people are ready to leave hostels. More than three-quarters of those questioned said the pandemic had made it harder for young people to find accommodation they could move into.

“This means newly homeless young people may not have access to age-appropriate accommodation because beds cannot be freed up, and could be stuck in risky situations whilst waiting for essential specialised support,” the report said.

The charity, which supports 15,000 vulnerable young people a year, added there was “no doubt that young people had been placed in risky situations” when staying in all age hostels or night shelters.

Latest figures suggest that youth unemployment has reached 13.6 per cent – more than three times the overall figure.

In March, the Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick, instructed councils to find emergency accommodation for all people sleeping rough, where they could safely self-isolate. Mr Noblet said the Government should now guarantee that “every part of the country had the necessary funds to ensure that no one was placed in unsafe accommodation or put at risk”.

He said: “Key to achieving this is making sure that funding is made available not just to support older, entrenched rough sleepers but younger people, too.”

Last week, the Mr Jenrick, told the Commons that the Government would spend more than £750m on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping – a funding increase of 60 per cent on previous figures. “This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping,” he told MPs.

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