Developing Positive Pathways to Adulthood: because there’s nothing positive about becoming homeless at a young age Anna Whalen Youth Homelessness Adviser

Youth homelessness is still reported to be relatively steady in most authorities but…. Year on year reductions in public spending - Spending Review imminent Complex and multiple needs - rising as a proportion Significant variation across England re: accommodation and support options for young people Welfare reform impacts on young people Supply and affordability Low confidence of landlords (social and private) Young people being economic active is more important than ever

A few suggestions to move things forward Making a case for explicitly addressing HOUSING for young people locally – not just HOMELESSNESS (…….. if all you plan for is crisis, what will you always get?) Identify and use existing communication channels (mainly web based) to reach parents and young people with key information on local realities of supply and affordability ( and where to go for early advice etc) SHARE with other professionals the local housing market realities - they often don’t understand how bad it really is Where needed – an option of incentivising planned and delayed moves – on a discretionary basis

Working together for better outcomes for young people Making the case for ‘Early Help’ and Troubled Families involvement with under 18s at higher risk of homelessness Joint prevention is still a KEY focus. Prevention of homelessness is NOT gatekeeping. High performers - 85% success of no return after 6 months Joint planning, joint commissioning, joint delivery – several examples - but need to involve other relevant commissioners for accommodation and support ( health and criminal justice sectors ) Complex and multiple needs - lots of learning from Fair Chance Fund, Housing First, Psychologically Informed Environments

More suggestions New Barnardos and St Basils toolkit - ‘Accommodation and Support Framework’ for working with care leavers Look at the The Money House – Hyde Housing and partners: Financial literacy = tenure success in RB Greenwich. A 98% completion rate: Attendees were three times less likely to be in arrears in social housing of over £100 than non-attendees. Learning from the Crisis Sharing Solutions programme – other sharing in the PRS Shared social housing -Crisis doing a new toolkit on this - SnugBug Houseshare is a great example of sharing social housing

Our offer to local authorities Up to 2 days of our time – free consultancy Training, advice, information bespoke to your local circumstances See for the 2015 Positive Pathway document and the new Barnardos and St Basils ‘Accommodation and Support Framework’ for care leavers