Empowering Young People to End Homelessness

  Last year around 20,000 young people approached a local authority in London for housing support. Those identified as eligible and in priority need will be placed in high-cost, poor quality temporary or supported accommodation, many more are unable to access support and find themselves sofa surfing or rough sleeping.

The UK is in the midst of a housing crisis, local authorities are being crippled by the increase of homelessness and the expense of temporary accommodation. Young people are often at the sharp edge of this crisis. For example, unless they have a specific exemption, under 35’s are only entitled to the shared accommodation rate of housing benefit. 

In years past being young would constitute a vulnerability that would make a homeless person eligible for support. With the extreme pressure on local authorities the thresholds have been raised and many young people who may previously have been given support are no longer considered in “priority need” and therefore are not eligible for homeless support.  Young people not considered in priority need face the challenge of navigating a very competitive private rented sector without support, with many finding themselves sofa surfing or rough sleeping. 

We believe if we can identify those young people who are at risk of homelessness at an early stage, we can address the root causes and prevent them becoming homeless as young adults. Homeless services are not tailored to engage with young people and meet their specific needs. Conversely youth work services often lack the knowledge and skills to navigate housing systems.

 By combining expertise in high-risk youth work with housing expertise Keep it Moving is pioneering an innovative, upstream solutions to the problem of youth homelessness.