Youth homelessness in the UK: a new study
Over a decade ago the Inquiry into Preventing Youth Homelessness was set up to examine the scale, nature of, and possible solutions to, youth homelessness (Evans, 1996). The Inquiry estimated that 246,000 young people had experienced homelessness across the UK in 1995. Whilst the data had its limitations, the Inquiry successfully demonstrated that youth homelessness was a very significant social problem and called for urgent action in the area.
The intervening 10 years have witnessed a number of important legislative changes that have addressed a number of the Inquiry’s recommendations. The homelessness legislation has been extended to better cater for the needs of young people, by adding all 16-17 year-olds to the ‘priority needs’ groups in separate acts in England, Wales and Scotland. In addition, Leaving Care Acts covering the three nations have extended the duty of social services to care leavers until they are 17, whilst 18-20 care leavers are now a priority need group. There is a duty on local housing authorities to have a homelessness strategy and a new emphasis on preventing all forms of homelessness, particularly youth homelessness.
In addition, there has been a rapid expansion in services for young homeless people, with new initiatives being developed to meet evolving Government agendas on homelessness. For example, the Foyer movement grew from 35 schemes in 1995 to over 130 in 2007 and now supports more than 10,000 young people each year. Pilot preventative schemes have included Safe in the City and Safe Moves and voluntary and statutory agencies continue to develop local initiatives. There is now a universal expectation that mediation schemes will be available for young people and that supported lodgings schemes will also be established across England and Wales. Early 2007 also saw the launch of a new national youth homelessness scheme being led by the YMCA and Centrepoint. The Supporting People programme has also brought more consistent access to support services for young homeless people across the UK.
However, the extent to which youth homelessness is being successfully tackled by all this activity across the UK is presently unclear. Acceptances of lone young people as homeless in the four UK nations have all risen in the last decade. The extension of priority need categories undoubtedly contributed to a rise in acceptances, and preventative approaches will account for some of the recent reductions in acceptances in England. However, the precise effect on changes in youth homelessness is unknown. As in 1995/6, reliable figures on the extent of homelessness among young people who do not approach local authorities are not available.
Ten years on from the Inquiry, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has funded Centrepoint and the University of York to undertake a major review of youth homelessness across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to assess progress in alleviating youth homelessness. The research has assessed patterns in the scale of youth homelessness, changes in the nature and profile of young people affected, and the impact of policy developments on outcomes for (potentially) homeless young people. Six detailed local authority case studies have been undertaken: one each in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and three in England. In addition, Centrepoint organised a national consultation exercise with both policy/practice experts and young people from the four nations to identify future policy and practice priorities. The research looks towards the next 10 years, making recommendations at both the local and national level.
Key findings of the review include:
The main ‘trigger’ for homelessness amongst young people is relationship breakdown. Many young people have experienced long-term problems at home, often involving violence.
The impact of homelessness continues to be a cause for concern. Young homeless people experience particularly high levels of depression/anxiety and substance misuse and are more likely to stop engaging in formal education, training or employment. Young people describe their lives as being ‘on hold’.
There is a widespread consensus within all the UK countries that policy on homelessness generally, and youth homelessness specifically, is moving in the right direction and the issue is being taken seriously. However, more work needs to take place in a number of key areas, including:
- Early intervention (identifying children at risk, providing a greater role for housing providers, greater focus on supporting family networks)
- Addressing homelessness (provision of emergency accommodation in every local authority, prevention of B&B use, a case manager for each young person, recruitment of good quality staff, more formal move-on arrangements)
- Monitoring and research (increasing the intervention evidence base, further inquiry into rough sleeping patterns, more research on high BME homeless levels in London, monitoring of non-statutory homelessness).
