Record breaking numbers of children have been reported homeless in 2024, with over 140,000 children currently living in temporary accommodation.
Homelessness can impact many parts of a child’s life, their emotional and physical health usually have the biggest impact. Without safe and stable environments children and young people unable do the simple things that others are doing around them, which in turn could make them feel isolated and damage their future.
Early intervention is key especially in the current operating environment, where budgets and funding across the sector are being cut. There are many circumstances in which children and young people could find themselves homeless and families need support to navigate the system which isn’t always available.
Building more affordable homes is not the answer to everything, the allocation and use of those homes is key. The country needs more social housing to make a real impact. In the current cost of living crisis, the support people need is different and the government must make a plan that tackles what is needed now, with the flexibility to change as stability improves.
The next government’s plans will need to consider how we keep people in their own homes and what support and funding is available to them. There is an opportunity for housing to be considered in core functionalities of statutory services, to take some pressure off local authority and housing departments, like having a ‘housing support function’ within children’s services, schools or wellbeing services, as well as training and education on supporting families.
Reintroducing the Supporting People programme for housing related community support, would prevent homelessness and reduce the pressure on local authorities, provide financial resilience and further access to housing.
The plans will no doubt be ambitious but whatever they aim to achieve needs to get to the core of the issues in order to make a real impact.
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