Depaul UK has joined a group of leading youth and homelessness charities including New Horizons, Centrepoint and YMCA UK calling on political leaders to commit to a strategy to end youth homelessness as part of their election manifesto.  

Together, we will launch our campaign to promote the Strategy to End Youth Homelessness on Monday,  June 12, and draw attention to the 129,000 (Centrepoint Databank–Estimates for 2021-22) 16–25-year-olds who reported to their council that they were homeless or at risk of homelessness.  

That is 353 young people a day, or one young person every four minutes.  

Sadly, the true scale of youth homelessness is thought to be double this figure. Many young people do not contact their council at all, precariously navigating between friends’ sofas and the fear of the streets. 

While the real scale of the issue may be unknown, the solutions are not.  

We know what works and we know that young people experience homelessness in a different way than other age groups. That is why we are calling for a cross-departmental strategy that prioritises: 

• Prevention – supporting young people to avoid crisis in the first place 
• Housing – better, safer options in place to catch and support those facing homelessness 
• Finances – fairer pay and resources so young people can build successful, independent lives 

Depaul UK’s CEO, Mike Thiedke, said: “There’s never been a more urgent time for political leaders to act together and commit to ending youth homelessness.  

“We are seeing more and more young people entering our services, needing help to access food banks or manage their bills. Many of the young people we see are unable to afford rent, or to eat more than one meal a day.  

“The time to raise the alarm is now. We have the solutions, what we need is the commitment from political leaders to deliver them.” 

The campaign #planforthe129k will highlight how young people have been systemically overlooked in local and national homelessness and housing strategies, which coupled with the fallout from COVID and the cost-of-living crisis, has left thousands at risk of homelessness.  

We think they deserve better. We demand better. 

Join us to campaign for #planforthe129k 

Source: https://www.depaul.org.uk/