Youth Homelessness in the North East Survey Findings 2015 Adele Irving and Jamie Harding, Northumbria University

Research Topics The extent of youth homelessness The characteristics of young homeless people The causes of youth homelessness Support needs and services Homelessness prevention Accommodation options Youth housing charter Welfare reform

Methodology Three online surveys Local Authorities (LAs) Homelessness Agencies (HAs) Housing Providers (HPs) Single homeless people, aged 16-24 February 2015 / Previous 12 months  22 responses 10 LAs 9 HAs 3 HPs

The Scale of Youth Homelessness 669 young people presented to LAs as homeless/in need of advice and support in February 2015 533 cases to 10 LAs in Feb 2012 174 (41%) who presented as homeless were under 25 (31% nationally) LAs were more likely to report an increase in presentations 495 under 25’s sought housing advice and support LAs evenly split as to whether requests had increased or decreased No strong trend reported by HAs and HPs

Age Breakdown of Youth Homelessness Numbers 16-17 107 (17%) 18-919 156 (24%) 20-21 153 (24%) 22-24 226 (35%) Total 642

Characteristics of Young Homeless People LA HA HP Total Care leavers (11% nationally) 7 11 22 40 Young offenders (13% nationally) 25 39 Looked after young people 16-17 2 5 4 16-17 accepted as statutory homeless 3 Unaccompanied asylum seekers 1 Young people with refugee status

Rough Sleeping Low levels of rough sleeping in the North East 7 LAs record rough sleeping by young people at the point of presentation 3 had seen one young person sleeping rough 4 had seen none One HP did not how many young clients had experienced rough sleeping. Another said that no young clients had experienced rough sleeping. One was aware of 3. 8 HAs reported seeing a total of 31 young clients in February 2015 who had ever slept rough The majority had slept rough for 1-2 nights. In 5 cases, their last period of rough sleeping was for more than 7 nights Lack of agreement regarding changes in levels of rough sleeping

Causes of Homelessness Parent/care giver no longer able or willing to accommodate 141 Other relatives no longer able or willing to accommodate 46 Abuse or domestic violence 27 Overcrowded housing 25 Financial problems caused by benefit reduction 23 Non-violent breakdown in relationship with partner 14 Leaving institutional care Eviction or threat of eviction 13 End of tenancy (private housing) 12 Drug or alcohol problems 10 ASB or crime 9

Support Needs – more complex

Local Authority Prevention Activities Characteristic of Young Person Number of activities Number relieving youth homelessness 16-17 12 8 18-21 care leavers (most at risk nationally) 27 4 22-24 care leavers 16 2 18-24 non care-leavers 43 24 TOTAL 98 38

Prevention Initiatives Number of LAs where operate Joint working between Children’s Services and Housing to target young people under 18 and their families 9 Advice services for young people presenting as homeless 8 Partnership working with the local Troubled Families programme Access to mediation services to enable young people to remain at home 6 Access to mediation services to support positive relationships to young people and their family, carers and friends if they have moved out 5 Education work in schools or other youth provision 2 Adequate range of prevention services in operation (40% nationally). Likely to have increased or stayed the same. Joint working between children's services and housing – most effective. Joint working – 90% of LAs said effective or very effective (58% nationally).

Accommodation Provision Emergency provision generally unchanged Just one LA reputed to 'usually' use B&B accommodation to support young people (50% of LAs use often/occasionally nationally) Social care, probation, the NHS and out of area homelessness teams were all identified as agencies that use B&Bs to accommodate young people The provision of longer stay temporary accommodation generally unchanged

Move On

Youth Housing Charter Aspect of accommodation Highly confident Not confident Don’t know Housing with adequate facilities, security and locks on doors 4 5 1 Secure permanent accommodation they can call their own rather than moving between temporary accommodation 6 Housing in an area they know, feel safe, where they are aware of available facilities and services, where to go for help, what the transport links are and close to training and employment 8 Where they want it, housing in an area close to family, carers, friends and other support networks 3

Welfare Reform Ongoing challenges - Sanctions, the removal of the spare room subsidy and difficulty accessing local welfare assistance. ‘We have a limited number of single person's properties and for benefit dependent people this has meant that we cannot consider them for a larger property as this would be unaffordable’ ‘It is extremely difficult to move young people on to independent accommodation with the introduction of the 'bedroom tax'. There is a massive lack of one bed properties and if they carry extra housing costs it can affect their finances significantly’ ‘Due to a lack of one bedroom properties in [LA area], the changes to Housing Benefit have had an effect on young people's ability to access [name of HA] properties, particularly in high demand areas’ ‘The increase in sanctions is impacting on young people’s access to benefits as they struggle to comply with work seeker commitments and insecure housing’

Conclusion ‘The current environment is a challenging one for all services seeking to support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. [We] have had to evolve to meet financial pressures and ensure we deliver a more efficient and effective service, yet still maintain quality and a focus on supporting customers to find a sustainable home. This challenge is becoming more acute. The need for homelessness services is not diminishing. The partnership will therefore continue to develop and innovate to ensure services are able to respond to meet the challenges faced by our customers’