‘Patchy’ progress on youth homelessness prevention

A year after the Homelessness Reduction Act, Reform has argued that progress on youth homelessness prevention is patchy across local authority areas.

The think tank’s new report claims that council approaches to youth homelessness prevention remains inconsistent, finding that some local authorities have fostered collaboration between different organisations to provide young people with timely and wraparound support, but ‘others have admitted they need to do more.’

The report argues that, in order to see improvements in early intervention, homelessness must be treated as more than just a housing issue, requiring support across government departments and all public sector bodies.

Luke Heselwood, author of the report, said: “Too many vulnerable young people are not getting the support they desperately need. If Minister are serious about tackling youth homelessness then they need to provide more long-term funding and ensure all public services are engaged in prevention.”