Concerns about youth homelessness in England

Research published by Homeless Link, an umbrella organisation for homeless charities in England, shows that the proposal to remove automatic entitlement to housing benefit from 18 to 21 year olds could have a devastating impact on vulnerable young people.

The research shows that up to 44% of young people using homelessness services are likely to be affected by this policy.  Homeless Link have warned that thousands of vulnerable young people will be left with nowhere to turn for help.

Wider welfare reforms and lack of affordable housing compounding issue

Homeless Link is concerned that the removal of housing support could push vital homelessness service out of the reach of young people.  Young and Homeless 2015, a survey of homelessness service providers and local authority housing departments, indicates that the problem is compounded by wider welfare reforms and lack of affordable and shared housing: 

• 95% of homelessness services reported that benefit sanctions have affected young people’s ability to access accommodation.
• 73% reported that the extension of the Shared Accommodation Rate – which limits the amount of housing benefit young people can receive in the private rented sector – has greatly affected young people’s ability to access accommodation.
• On average, the time spent in homelessness services was 16 months, almost twice as long as in last year’s survey (8.5 months).

The report highlights a lack of resources that will allow local authorities in England to effectively prevent homelessness and tackle the issue of youth homelessness. Four in ten (42%) local authorities said they did not have an adequate range of tools to prevent youth homelessness. Only 23% of the young people surveyed who had approached their council for help had their homelessness prevented or relieved. 43% of local authorities said that they lack youth specific accommodation, and 39% reported that supported housing had been reduced, cut or is not available in their area.

The report calls for:

• A national focus on young people at risk, led by the Ministerial Working Group on homelessness
• The Government to exempt young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness from the removal of the automatic right to housing costs
• Better access to sustainable housing for young people, including rent deposit and bond schemes, shared housing s and peer landlord schemes
• Future employment support programmes to take account of the additional pressures on young homeless people caused by their insecure housing situation
• Local authorities to offer a range of prevention initiatives including investment in family mediation and access to emergency accommodation
• Every local authority to implement a Positive Pathway model to ensure appropriate accommodation options for young people are in place depending on their personal needs.

You can download the full report from Homeless Link’s website.

Removal of housing benefit from young people

David Cameron first mooted the possibility of removing housing benefit from young people in 2012.  The Prime Minster has questioned whether young people who have never worked should have access to independent housing, while other working young people are unable to afford to move out on their own.  In the 2015 Summer Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that automatic entitlement to housing costs assistance under Universal Credit will end for 18 to 21 year olds in April 2017.

Certain categories of young people will be exempt from the removal of Housing Benefit, including

• vulnerable young people;
• young people who cannot live at home with their parents
• young parents and
• young people who have been in work for 6 months prior to making a claim for assistance with housing costs.  

More information on the proposals, including the potential impacts and comments from stakeholders can be found in the Commons Briefing paper SN06473.