As young people make the transition to adulthood it can be a difficult time, both financially and emotionally. A number of additional factors make this transition more difficult for young people in vulnerable housing situations, such as lower rates of the minimum wage and benefits, increased likelihood of unemployment and exclusion from housing registers.
Many of the causes of homelessness, such as unemployment, shortage of housing, and family problems, affect young people across the spectrum. However, there are some young people who are more at risk of becoming homeless:
- care leavers.
- runaways.
- young offenders
- black and minority ethnic (BME) groups
- asylum seekers
- refugees
- young people from rural areas.
Shelter's View
Shelter welcomes the commitment successive Governments have made to end child poverty by 2020. However, we are concerned that policies enacted by the government will undermine this goal. University of Cambridgr Research commissioned by shelter found that cuts to housing benefit risked pushing more children into poverty.
Shelter strongly believes that access to decent affordable housing must be at the heart of any strategy for improving the life chances of children and young people and reducing child poverty. This means addressing issues such as:
- the acute shortage of social rented housing
- overcrowding
- housing affordability
- funding for tenancy sustainment and housing advice services
- benefit cuts that threaten housing affordability.
Please visit the website to get more information and to know how you can avail the support for yourself and your family. This however only applies to inside England. http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns_/why_we_campaign/supporting_families_and_children.
