Youth homelessness and local authority gatekeeping

Centrepoint’s 2022/23 Youth Homelessness Databank has found that more than a third of the young people who approached their local authority in England in 2022/23 were not assessed for eligibility. 

Moreover, since the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act, there has been a decrease in the proportion of young people receiving assessments, going from 79 per cent in 2018/19 to 65 per cent in 2022/2023. 

While some of these discrepancies may be attributable to young people not meeting the threshold for an assessment and support, data collected by Centrepoint suggests that many local authorities are engaging in practices that block access to homelessness support – often called gatekeeping. 

Data obtained from the Centrepoint Helpline between July 2023 and September 2024 shows that 564 young people have experienced forms of local authority gatekeeping in England between July 2023 and 11 September 2024. 

The data shows that there was an average of 4.4 gatekeeping cases per council. In real terms, however, there was relatively large variance between the number of recorded gatekeeping cases per council, with one Council linked to 90 cases and a number of others recorded as engaging in between 10 and 21 cases.

Of the young people recorded as having experienced gatekeeping, 255 were female (45%) and 174 were male (31%). 

Worryingly, there were 82 recorded instances of gatekeeping where the applicant had children or were pregnant at the time of contacting the helpline (14.6%). 

Where we were able to record gatekeeping category data, we have identified rates of local authority gatekeeping by type. The types most reported were ‘wrongly considered to not be priority need’, with 202 cases since July 2023 (35%), and young people ‘Unable to contact the local authority (i.e. phone switched off, number not available on website etc.)’, with 100 cases.

Conclusion

• Helpline staff report that the high rate of gatekeeping has meant that they are now having to spend more of their time advocating for and on behalf of young people to local authorities, encouraging them to provide homelessness assessments and temporary accommodation when needed. This is not always successful and means that staff often have less time to support other young people.
   
• Local authorities are obliged to begin enquiries as soon as they have reason to believe an applicant may be homeless or threatened with homelessness. This is clearly not happening in a significant number of instances, meaning that many young people – likely far more than recorded via the Centrepoint helpline – are not receiving assessments and, if eligible, support.
   
• Local authorities are obliged to try and prevent or relieve homelessness for all applicants who are eligible for assistance and are homeless or threatened with homelessness, irrespective of whether or not they may have a priority need for accommodation. However, many councils are denying support to young people who should have priority need status, such as those who are pregnant/with children and/or with experiences of domestic abuse.
   
• Local authorities are also engaging in unethical practices by insisting that young people contact them in particular ways. This goes against the Homelessness Code of Guidance, where local authorities are told that: Applications can be made to any department of the local authority and expressed in any particular form….. As long as the communication seeks accommodation or assistance in obtaining accommodation and includes details that give the housing authority reason to believe that they might be homeless or threatened with homelessness, this will constitute an application.