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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. Characteristics of Young Homeless PeopleLA 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Support Needs – more complex

10. 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

11. 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).

12. 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

13. Move On

14. 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

15. 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’

16. 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’