New scheme aims to help homeless youngsters

A pioneering housing scheme could prevent youth homelessness if it was rolled out across Scotland, a leading charity has claimed.

Youth homelessness charity the Rock Trust has called on councils and housing providers urgently to set up “housing first” schemes, which would see homeless young people being given a permanent home without the need to prove they are “housing ready” after being passed through different stages of temporary accommodation.

The Rock Trust set up the UK’S first “housing first” scheme for young people. Under their Housing First for Youth project five young people who were in care are living in permanent, furnished homes in West Lothian. The young people were given the homes without conditions or time limits and receive intensive “whatever it takes” support.

The charity says the two-year pilot, launched in September last year in partnership with Almond Housing Association, is preventing young people

ALLISON CALDER Rock Trust head of services

getting trapped in a cycle of homelessness and could help to end the use of temporary accommodation which it warns is “unsafe and unsuitable” for young people.

It comes as a new report from Heriot Watt University has found that too many young people are still living in B&B and hostel accommodation while homeless, which can be “intimidating and harmful”.

In 2016-17 a total of 1,755 temporary accommodation placements for young people were into hostels and 670 into B&BS.

Young people aged 16 to 24 are over-represented among the overall homeless population and those who were “looked after” by the local authority are particularly at risk.

At least 21 per cent of young people become homeless within five years of leaving care, according to statistics from the Scottish Government.

Experts say the figure could be as high as 30 to 50 per cent due to unreported homelessness.

Rock Trust head of services Allison Calder said: “For a young person leaving care, entering yet another temporary accommodation arrangement can present a traumatic set of circumstances.”

After being awarded an additional £50,000 from Nationwide last week, the project will support double the number of young people, helping another five youngsters into permanent homes.

“For a young person leaving care, entering yet another temporary accommodation can be traumatic”