On 5 November 2023, Centrepoint is released its latest Youth Homelessness Databank showing the scale of youth homelessness in the UK.

Centrepoint has found that youth homelessness in the UK has risen for the sixth year in a row, with almost 136,000 young people approaching their local authority for homelessness support last year. That’s a 5% increase on the year before and makes it the highest figure ever recorded. We have observed similar increases here in Aylesbury Vale and increasing demand for our homelessness services.

Other key stats:

• 1 in 52 young people in the UK need support because they’re either homeless or at risk.
• Only 33% of young people had their homelessness prevented or relieved when they asked their council for support.
• One in nine young people is homeless or at risk due to domestic violence. This is especially concerning for young women, who are five times more likely to be homeless or at risk than young men due to domestic abuse.
• Evictions from private, social or supported housing now represent the third largest reason for young people facing homelessness – likely a result of the lift of the eviction ban introduced by the government during the pandemic. The number of young people facing homelessness due to evictions increased by more than 40% last year.

Key messages from this

• Centrepoint’s Youth Homelessness Databank collects council-level data to build a more informed national understanding of the issue – and it’s the only publicly accessible resource that provides information across the entire Homelessness Reduction Act pathway.
• Local authorities can and should do better – but the buck ultimately stops with central government. Without adequate funding and a strategy to end youth homelessness, any action taken is just a sticking plaster.