Charity finds 22,000 young people in England face homelessness this Christmas

Youth homeless charity Centrepoint revealed the extent of the issue facing 16- to 25-year-olds this winter in its No Place To Stay report.

Centrepoint sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 326 councils in England asking how many 16- to 25-year-olds had presented as homeless or were at risk of becoming homeless last winter after the Homelessness Reduction Act was passed in 2017. Of those, 248 responded.

The act states that local councils must take the details of all people presenting to them as homeless.

Research suggests that between November this year and January 2020, more than 22,000 young people will seek help for homelessness.

However, Centrepoint said the figures obtained through local councils did not include data for a significant number of young people classed as “hidden homeless”.

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Almost three quarters of young people polled by Centrepoint said they had stayed in abusive or overcrowded homes, sofa-surfed or slept rough. 

Some 37 per cent had stayed in an abusive home with a parent or guardian and 46 per cent stayed in an overcrowded property because they had nowhere else to stay.

The report revealed that 33 per cent of young people spent a night in a park because they had nowhere else to stay while 27 per cent had spent a night in a tent.

Seven per cent of young people had spent the night in a public toilet.

Of more than 200 people who participated in the survey, four in 10 said homelessness had made it more difficult to access education and more than two thirds said it had affected their mental health.

Centrepoint supports 15,000 young homeless people a year and is calling on the government to change Universal Credit, which limits the amount of money available to young people to pay rent.

Billy Harding, research and policy officer at Centrepoint said: “This research highlights just some of what homeless young people are facing right now – from impacts on their mental and physical health, to difficulties accessing education and employment and having to make impossible choices simply for a place to stay.

“That is why Centrepoint is campaigning for change, to ensure that young people do not become homeless in the first place, and those that do are able to receive the support they need to allow them to move into stable accommodation as quickly as possible.”