Young homeless driven to crime and prostitution

Young, Hidden and Homeless explores the experiences and circumstances of single homeless people aged 18-25.

It found that 34 per cent of young homeless people have committed crimes, such as shoplifting or antisocial behaviour, in the hope of being taken into custody, and 17 per cent have committed an imprisonable offence so they would receive a custodial sentence and accommodation.

A further 18 per cent of homeless young people have tried to get themselves admitted to Accident & Emergency, so they could spend a night in hospital, while a quarter of young homeless women have engaged in sex work to fund accommodation or in the hope of getting a bed for the night.

Meanwhile, more than half of young homeless people were excluded from school growing up, 40 per cent experienced abuse at home, 33 per cent self-harm and 30 per cent spent part of their childhood in care.

The charity is calling on government to protect services for vulnerable young homeless people, to prevent them falling into long-term homelessness.

The report cites forthcoming research by Homeless Link, which shows that in the past year, 75 homelessness projects closed and 58 per cent of projects had their budgets cut. There are now 2,000 fewer bed spaces in hostels than there were two years ago.

Crisis is also urging the government to change the law so that councils have a duty to support all young homeless people aged 18-25.

It argues that too many young single homeless people approach local authorities for help with housing but are turned away with “nowhere to go and little option but to sleep rough”.

“Most single homeless people are not considered to be in ‘priority need’ for social housing, meaning that the council has no duty to find them accommodation,” said Duncan Shrubsole, director of policy and external affairs at Crisis.

“Although they should get meaningful advice and assistance from their council, Crisis' recent research shows too often single homeless people are given little help or turned away with none at all.

“The consequences of councils failing to intervene early can be devastating and can cause people to fall deeper into homelessness. The answer is to change the law so that all homeless people get the help they need.”

Across all age groups, 107,060 households approached their council as homeless in 2011, a 10 per cent increase on the previous year, while rough sleeping rose 23 per cent in England in the same period.

According to the report, around seven per cent of rough sleepers in London are aged under 25, although the majority of young homeless people are hidden from formal support services, instead “sofa-surfing” or living in squatted accommodation.