Local authorities in England are facing a £332m annual shortfall in youth homelessness funding, new research has revealed.
The study, conducted by WPI Economics, calculated how much councils would need to meet their obligations under the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) to assess and support the young people who weren’t assessed last year.
Youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, who commissioned the research, said that in 2022-23 119,300 young people approached their council and just 65% received an assessment.
WPI Economics said councils would need £332m a year more to ensure all young people facing homelessness could be assessed.
Alicia Walker, head of policy, Research and Campaigns at Centrepoint said: ‘Councils have a legal duty to assess anyone who presents as homeless, but we are deeply concerned that they do not have the means to carry out these duties. It's not good enough that so many young people are not getting the chance of that assessment, let alone accessing support.’
