Somewhere to call home

The importance of stable housing

To understand what vulnerable young people want from housing and how stable housing can add value to their lives, Centrepoint involved 18 young people in interviews and focus groups and 213 young people in a national survey exploring their housing experiences and aspirations. Through this, we found that vulnerable young people want affordable, safe and secure housing that enables them to enter employment, build careers and develop relationships.

The facts about youth homelessness and social housing

• Centrepoint Databank statistics show that in 2022, more than 112,000 young people in England presented to their local authority requiring homelessness prevention and/or relief.
• As of 2020-2021, just 2% of total local authority and 3.1% of housing association social homes were let by young people.
• In 2022, private registered providers built 549 fewer social rented homes than 2021, while local authority providers built around 9,300 fewer homes of this type.
• Allocations to new general needs social housing for single people in England decreased from 80,986 in 2015/2016 to 52,674 in 2021/2022.

Our report and selected findings

Our research explores the housing aspirations of young people with experiences of homelessness and examines how young people can be supported to access social housing in England. In doing this, the research investigates the role of contemporary housing providers, the importance of preparing young people to live independently and approaches to unblocking housing pathways. Through this, the research found that:

• The young people participating understood that social housing was the most affordable option on the market. And they valued the security and safety that social housing can provide.
• The young people understood that a stable home could provide them with opportunities to think in the long term and set future goals.
• Participants from local authorities and housing associations highlighted that issues such as high demand for services, the age of housing stock and diminished funding had reduced their capacity to support young people.
• Young people with experiences of homelessness often need support to prepare them to move into independent accommodation. Participants highlighted that this support should be empowering and aimed at building confidence and capacity.
• Young single people can experience a double disparity of reduced allocations and access to a limited pool of one bedroom and studio social housing.

Our recommendations

Provide more social housing to vulnerable young people by:

• Building more one bedroom and studio social housing.
• Asking local authorities to allocate more social housing to vulnerable young people.

Develop more innovative housing solutions for vulnerable young people by:

• Providing more funding and support to organisations, such as Centrepoint, St Basil’s and YMCA England and Wales, who are developing innovative schemes aimed at housing homeless young people.

Strengthen the benefits system for young people by:

• Empowering vulnerable young people living in supported housing to access employment and gain work experiences.
• Providing under 25s living independently with the same Universal Credit rate received by over 25s.

Reduce local authority gatekeeping by:

• Creating clearer guidance for councils detailing their statutory obligations to vulnerable young people so that they do not use factors such as local connection and intentionality to remove support.

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