Two of London’s leading youth homelessness charities have warned that government is not yet doing enough to help homeless young people as new statistics released today show that more young people are sleeping rough than before the pandemic.
Centrepoint and New Horizon Youth Centre have welcomed the £640m per year announced in the Budget this week to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, but called for this funding to be invested also in more age-appropriate support for homeless young people. This was following today’s release of the latest CHAIN report which provides information about people seen sleeping rough in London from July to September of this year.
The CHAIN report reveals that:
– 280 young people had been seen sleeping rough in London, July – September 2021 ; this was 3% higher than in April-June but less of an increase than across all age groups.
– 24% fewer young people were sleeping rough compared to the same quarter last year, a fall from 368 in July – September 2020 to 280 this year.
– This was up 12% from pre-pandemic levels (July – September 2019), an increase from 250 (July – September 2019) to 280 (July – September 2021)
– Despite these falls in numbers, young people seen sleeping rough in the capital remains around one in ten (10%) a stubbornly high figure.
Responding to the findings Paul Brocklehurst, Centrepoint’s Senior Helpline Manager, said:
“Although it is encouraging to see the decline in rough sleeping this summer compared to last year, there is still work to be done and we are a long way off the government’s commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024. We know from the callers on our Helpline that these statistics often underestimate the scale of the problem and fail to include the thousands of hidden homeless young people who are sofa surfing, sleeping on public transport or staying with strangers every night.
“It is not surprising that 1 in 10 rough sleepers are still young people, as many are suffering from long-term unemployment and the economic fallout from the pandemic. And as we near the winter months, young people are coping with Universal Credit cuts and rising energy prices.
“Now is not the time to be complacent. It’s time funding allocations recognised that even more young people are being put at risk of homelessness. Local authorities’ homeless prevention teams, night shelters and homelessness services must reflect the needs of all age groups, including young people, and this specialised support now needs to be extended across the country to allow young people to turn their lives around for good.”
Phil Kerry, CEO of New Horizon Youth Centre, said:
“Today we learn that one in ten young people sleeping rough in London are still under-25.This summer 43% of the young people who came to New Horizon for the first time were staying on the streets.
We welcome the new government funding to tackle rough sleeping, but these numbers leave no doubt that this investment should also directly benefit young people. With support from the GLA and London Councils, we started our emergency accommodation project for 18-24 year olds with Depaul UK in March and give 40 young Londoners a safe place to stay every night. We are encouraged to see that the increase in young people sleeping rough in July-September compared to the previous quarter is not as high the number across all ages. This shows that precisely this type of youth-specific rough sleeping provision works and that government support is now needed more than ever.”
