Youth homelessness groups have welcomed the move to force councils to think strategically. But major problems have surfaced, such as housing and social services departments failing to collaborate with the young people suffering most, especially the newly included category of 16- to 17-year-olds.
Councils were given a year to draw up strategies to tackle and prevent homelessness, but concern is mounting over their implementation.
Authorities now have their homelessness strategies in place. Or as a spokeswoman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) cryptically puts it: "We do not have all the strategies (physically), but our dealings with them suggest they all have their strategies ready." These plans will be reviewed after three to five years.
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