The Government has failed to offer a lifeline to thousands of young people experiencing homelessness as part of its almost £1bn cash injection to tackle homelessness in 2025. 

Last year 136,000 people aged between 16-24 presented to their local authority as homeless or at risk of homelessness.  

These young people need different support from entrenched rough sleepers, women escaping abuse, or families stuck in temporary housing.   

But there appears to be no specific allocation in the Government’s funding announcement for 2025, or specific strategy, that will provide better help for homeless young people or prevent youth homelessness. 

We bring together 12 leading frontline charities to tackle homelessness among 16–25-year-olds in the UK. We know people who experience homelessness in their youth are more likely to become adult rough sleepers. 

We urge Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner to clear up how the Government will fill funding gaps created by the employers’ national insurance increase which threatens already stretched statutory services. 

“Rough sleeping is the end point of a long journey that often starts in childhood”

Deputy PM Rayner must recognise that such services are only fit-for-purpose when they routinely provide the wraparound support young people need to thrive.   

We need the Government to engage in serious discussion about how to systematically reduce the root causes of youth homelessness. Only then can we claim to have a national strategy to “end homelessness”. 

CEO Nick Connolly said: “The Government makes no mention of how it will support young people in today’s funding boost for homelessness.  We believe this is a catastrophic omission if their aim is to ‘end homelessness once and for all’. 

“Offering a further £192m to prevent homelessness for people in crisis fails to recognise that rough sleeping is the end point of a long journey that often starts in childhood. 

“It is impossible to significantly reduce any form of homelessness without a specific strategy and significant investment in preventing children becoming homeless young people, and homeless young people becoming rough sleepers.  

“If the Government shifts its sights from immediate prevention to more strategic longer-term prevention, young people will go on to secure accommodation and employment, contribute to the economy and the Government will spend less money on support services. 

“This Government pledged fewer than six months ago that it would make difficult decisions to achieve lasting change. Instead, just £5m of the 2025 homelessness budget appears to be dedicated to new projects.”