Government announces new scheme to curb youth homelessness | Communities | SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Government announces new scheme to curb youth homelessness | Communities | SocietyGuardian.co.uk: "Government to offer housing to homeless under-25s


Hélène Mulholland
Wednesday March 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The government today announced measures to stop young people who have been kicked out of their homes by their parents ending up on the streets.

The housing minister, Yvette Cooper, unveiled an England-wide National Youth Homelessness scheme that will offer temporary lodging to those under 25 with nowhere to go.

A service giving free homelessness advice will also be set up in partnership with Shelter, the housing charity, and the Citizens Advice Bureau, Ms Cooper added.

Speaking at a conference organised by Centrepoint, the homelessness charity, the minister said that young people being forced to leave the family home was now one of the biggest causes of homelessness.

"We are seeing a persistent problem of young people moving from one place to the next without ever having a proper home, which can impact severely on their life chances and put them out of reach of support services," said Ms Cooper.

The minister signalled hopes that the supported accommodation scheme, run in partnership with YMCA England, would give young individuals the breathing space to "work through problems" and increase their chances of going back to the parental home.

More than a third of new cases of homelessness last year were young people aged under 25.

Just under a quarter of people who became homeless over that period were forced to leave their last home because their parents were no longer willing to accommodate them.

The latest measures form part of the government's commitment to eliminate the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for all 16- and 17-year-olds by 2010.

Ms Cooper said: "We need to do more to help young people who find themselves homeless alone. This new partnership with the voluntary sector will help young people move away from the damaging cycle of homelessness through schemes like supported lodgings, giving them the stability and support they need to move back to a settled home."

Other measures unveiled today include a committee of former homeless young people to advise ministers on homelessness policy, and a Centre of Excellence in every region to enable councils who have made good progress in tackling homelessness to share their expertise with neighbouring councils and agencies.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said that all the measures would be funded out of a ringfenced £74m homelessness grant allocated to local authorities in England this year."