Last year, 129,000 16–25 year-olds presented across the UK for help to avoid becoming homeless. That’s 353 young people a day! A new young person every 4 minutes – yet no one is talking about it, and there is no national plan to end this! The future of our nation is abandoned to the harm of homelessness. We think they deserve better. We demand better.
This number is only the tip of the iceberg. Many young people don’t even speak up, and thousands are among the hidden homeless, navigating between friends’ sofas and the fear of the streets.
Frontline charities report that only around half of those using their services have asked statutory services for help, indicating that the true scale of youth homelessness in the UK is much higher. It could easily be double the number of young people without a safe home every year, and with the fallout of COVID and the cost-of-living crisis, it’s getting worse.
The scale of the issue may be unseen, but the solutions are not. Young people’s experiences of homelessness are different from other age groups, so the solutions must also be different. We know what works, so we are calling for a cross-departmental strategy to end youth homelessness.
The strategy prioritises:
- Prevention — supporting young people to avoid a crisis in the first place
- Housing — better, safer options in place to catch and support those facing homelessness
- Finances — fairer pay and resources so young people can build successful, independent lives
Together with a coalition of over 100 homelessness and youth organisations, we’re calling on political parties to adopt our Strategy to End Youth Homelessness as a manifesto commitment.
Join us to campaign for a #PIanForThe129k