Section: Homelessness & Rough Sleeping
New Funding Gives Support for Single Homeless
The Government will provide a further £20 million to provide single people facing homelessness the help they need to get back on their feet and ensure that they don't have to spend time on the streets.
Under homelessness legislation, single people are often not classed as in 'priority need' and are often left with fewer housing options - forced to spend nights 'sofa surfing' at a friend's houses, in their car or even on the street.
The aim of this additional £20 million fund is to support local authorities in providing help for the single homeless. Possible uses include:
- Providing a dedicated homelessness prevention officer for lower priority cases, to give them advice and support.
- Funding more provision of short term emergency accommodation.
- Improving access to suitable privately rented accommodation, through rent bond schemes, tenancy support or specialist reconnection services.
A new programme of support will also be introduced to help local authorities improve their homeless prevention process for single people. Local authority homeless practitioners will offer active training on innovative ways to prevent single homelessness as part of existing services.
New Report Finds Youth Homelessness on the Rise
Relationship breakdowns are causing a rise in homelessness among young people, a new Homeless Link study has revealed.
The findings reveal the extent to which rising homelessness is affecting young people aged 16-24.
According to 'Young & Homeless' report, a survey of 79 homeless charities and 108 local authority housing services found that, over the past year:
- Nearly half of homelessness services (44%) and councils (48%) have seen an increase in young people seeking help because they are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless.
- The number one cause for homelessness among this age group is relationship breakdowns with family and friends, and cases of this have increased.
- The majority (62%) of young homeless clients seen by charities were not in education, employment or training, 46% were in financial difficulties.
- A quarter of young clients (26%) seen by services had experience of sleeping rough.
The study also looked at how services are responding to increased demand among this age group and their responses highlighted some deep concerns for the sector, including:
- 48% of homeless agencies reported turning away young single homeless people because their resources were fully stretched.
- Nearly one in five local authorities (17%) feel they are not meeting their legal requirements for homeless young people aged 16-17.
- Half of local authorities report using B&Bs as emergency accommodation for young people, despite Government guidelines which advise against their use.
- More than 70% of local authorities said they had no shared accommodation private sector provision for young people, despite this being the only option for young people on Housing Benefit.
- 53% of homeless agencies have experienced closures or threats of closure to youth services in their area.
The report makes a number of recommendations to help prevent youth homelessness and reduce the impact that it has. These include:
- Ensuring that changes planned by Government to the welfare system do not cause higher youth homelessness.
- Protecting cost effective advice and prevention services, such as family mediation, from local authority cuts.
- Protect the Supporting People funding which pays for housing related support.
- Finding alternatives to B&Bs to provide accommodation for young people such as Nightstops.
- Making it easier for young people to rent private sector housing and make sure they don’t get squeezed out by rising rent costs and increased demand for housing.
To download the report, visit www.homeless.org.uk/youth-homelessness.
