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Up to 22,000 young adults at risk of homelessness this Christmas
Up to 22,000 young people aged 16 to 25 will be, or are, at risk of homelessness this Christmas, enough people to sell out the O2 arena, new research by homelessness charity Centrepoint has revealed.
The study found that homelessness had a negative impact on their mental health, with 73% of young people saying that have ‘sofa surfed’ because they have had nowhere to stay.
The data was sourced from 248 local authorities who provided information on how many young people have presented themselves to them over the previous Christmas period. Through computational extrapolation to all 326 councils, Centrepoint estimates that 22,250 young people will seek help in England between November 2019 and January 2020.
In addition to the data collected from local authorities, Centrepoint spoke to more than 200 young people, each of whom have experienced homelessness.
Of these, 72% of homeless young people said that not having a place to live had a negative impact on their mental health.
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The study also found that 40% of young people said homelessness had a negative impact on their ability to access or sustain education, while 69% of homeless young people felt that no one cared about them and 67% of homeless young people felt lonely while homeless.
Exactly a third of homeless young people have spent the night in a park because they had nowhere else to stay, and 17% have done so more than once. A total of 27% of homeless young people have spent the night in a tent and 10% have spent the night on a night bus because they had nowhere else to stay.
Seyi Obakin, chief executive at Centrepoint, said: “In the past 50 years, thanks to our supporters, Centrepoint has been there for thousands of young people when they had nowhere else to turn.
“However, for every person we reach, there are hundreds more who need support. With the problem of youth homeless growing, we need to pull together and take urgent action to protect vulnerable young people and make sure every young person has a safe place to call home and the future they deserve.”
