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Addressing Hidden Obstacles: Youth-specific Homeless Policy Issues

Explore the specific policy challenges faced by homeless youth and the need for joint work and cross-departmental approaches. Learn about the impact of the Homeless Link Plus Project and the call for more youth-specific interventions.

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Addressing Hidden Obstacles: Youth-specific Homeless Policy Issues

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  1. Hidden obstacles? Some youth specific homeless policy issues Marike van Harskamp Homeless Link Plus Project Policy Forum on Young People 10 July 2019

  2. Who we are • A specialist partnership providing support to young people, aged 16-25, from across London who are homeless or at risk of homelessness • Partners • New Horizon Youth Centre, Depaul UK, Stonewall Housing, Galop, akt, Shelter • Holistic approach • accommodation access and provision • prevention, advice and advocacy • personal resilience - mental health, independent living, interpersonal skills • employment and training

  3. Impact 2017-19 • 1,269 young people into crisis accommodation • 1,144 times supported into long term accommodation • 664 safely reconciled with family • 12,485 with increased knowledge of housing options • 1,773 resolved benefit and financial hardship issues • 2,868 improved mental health • 2,076 with improved interpersonal skills • 1,501 increased employability skills • 1,039 obtained accredited training • What policy points arise in our delivery which: • are young people specific • indicate a need for more joint-work and/or cross-departmental approaches

  4. HRA – observations • Background/scale • 12,200 young people presented at London boroughs as homeless (2017/18) • > only 12% accepted as statutory homeless (Centrepoint 2018) • > only 1 in 5 young people seek local authority help (GLA 2017) • 225,000 young people in London have stayed in an unsafe place because they had nowhere safe to call home (Centrepoint 2016) • H-CLIC data? • Some of our experiences • local variations – some really good practice/renewed attention U25s; but often overlooked • effectiveness -lack of youth specific approaches, incl upstream work and delivery locations • inconsistency - HRA assessment and personal housing plans • safeguarding and risk issues – e.g. contacting excluders, serious youth violence • Duty to Refer – need to expand? • good practice - at JCPs especially

  5. Funding • Local authority funding cuts • National Audit Office (2018) Financial Sustainability of Local Authorities 2018 • HRA – sustainable? • £72m new burden funding. Estimated cost for London: £77m p/a • 57% of LAs have insufficient funding to delivery HRA for young people alone (Centrepoint 2018) • New funding streams • U25s mostly overlooked (e.g. MHCLG Roughsleeping Strategy funding) • housing-led?

  6. Specific areas of policy impact

  7. What else? GLA • Mayor’s No Night Sleeping Rough youth sub-group • London Housing Panel • London Violence Reduction Unit Local authorities • youth specific in Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategies • joint-work • reciprocals Government • data • cross-departmental approach • longer funding cycles • Spending Review

  8. More info Marike van Harskamp marike.vanharskamp@nhyouthcentre.org.uk 020 7388 5560 londonyouthgateway.org.uk

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