Councils are also illegally deprioritising some of the most serious cases, including a pregnant 20-year-old who was sleeping rough, the research by youth homelessness charity Centrepoint suggests.
Across the UK, there were 118,000 homeless young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK in the 12 months to March 2024 - a 10% increase on the previous year - according to the data collated from responses to freedom of information (FOI) requests of English local authorities, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and publicly available data from other devolved nations.
The Local Government Association, said councils are "doing their best" to meet their duties under increasing pressure - with currently 123,100 households living in temporary accommodation, at a cost of £2.3 billion a year.
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