Warning as number of homeless young people grows

The number of homeless young people in England is rising, with services struggling to meet demand, new research has found.

Council and charity homeless services are seeing a rise in youth homelessness, which could get worse in the current difficult economic climate.

The Young and Homeless report – carried out by national charity Homeless Link, which represents organisations working with homeless people in England – surveyed 79 homeless charities and 108 local authority housing services in October about how the problem affects 16- to 24-year-olds. It comes ahead of the Government’s own latest figures on homelessness, which are expected to be released this week.

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The report found over the past year nearly half of homelessness services (44 per cent) and councils (48 per cent) saw an increase in young people seeking help because they are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless.

The number one cause was relationship breakdowns with family and friends – on average 50 per cent of young people seen by charities and 65 per cent seen by councils gave relationship breakdown as the cause, the study found.

The report found 62 per cent of young homeless people seen by charities were not in education, employment or training; 46 per cent were in financial difficulties; and 26 per cent had experience of sleeping rough.

It highlighted concerns over how services are handling the growing demand – 48 per cent of homeless agencies reported turning away young single homeless people because their resources were stretched to the limit.

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Nearly one in five local authorities (17 per cent) felt they were not meeting their legal requirements for homeless young 16- and 17-year-olds.

And more than half (53 per cent) of homeless agencies had experienced closures or threats of closure to youth services in their area, according to the study.

Jacqui McCluskey, director of Policy and Communications for Homeless Link, said: “With more Government homeless figures due out this week, these findings underline the grim impact that the recession is having on our young.

“With rising youth unemployment, a changing welfare system and many families struggling to get by, youth homelessness is likely to get worse. We can’t prevent the recession but we can limit the impact it is having on the next generation.

“The longer someone doesn’t have a home, the more likely they are to... become trapped into a cycle of homelessness.”