Prime Minister Andy Burnham says he wants to build a more preventative government. Drawing on my own experience of homelessness, I look at what that could mean for young people – and ask whether we are intervening early enough.
When I watched Andy Burnham give his first speech as prime minister, on 20 July, I was taken back. He spoke about doing politics differently – moving away from “point scoring” towards “problem solving” and creating a more preventative approach to governing.
His first instruction was to launch a national drive to end rough sleeping “at the earliest opportunity”. Since then, we’ve seen announcements involving housing, youth employment and cost of living.
At EveryYouth, we welcome that ambition. But as someone who has experienced homelessness, I keep coming back to one question: how will young people experiencing homelessness benefit from these changes?
Andy Burnham has developed a £442 million, three-year Rough Sleeping Programme, with the ambition of offering people rough sleeping in England a route off the streets. It includes accommodation and intensive wraparound support for some of those who have experienced long-term rough sleeping.
This wraparound support is important because we know that many rough sleepers who are housed become rough sleepers again quickly. In June 2026, 14% of people recorded as sleeping rough were returning to the streets. More than a quarter had moved into settled accommodation in the previous year. This makes sense, rough sleeping is a horrendous experience that damages people deeply, so why are we waiting until people are long-term rough sleepers before they get intensive wraparound support? Why, after somebody has been given somewhere to live, do they become homeless again? What support did they need to prevent it.
I began writing this blog post a month ago with a plan to compile all the ‘good’ things that Burnham has been talking about, but then I’ve looked at my own experience an realised much of it amounts to empty political posturing. Four of the seven prime ministers that we’ve had over the last 10 years have pledged to end homelessness, but the numbers have continued to rise. What’s different this time?
I struggled at home and at school for as long as I remember but it wasn’t until I was 13 that I was diagnosed with dyslexia by which point I had already felt alienated from my peers. It wasn’t until 2023 at the age of 29 that I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD this year.
That’s 20 years of trying to navigate a world that I never really understood, from trying to build relationships with family and friends to understanding what I needed from an employer to sustain a job. I’m now in my 30s and have recently moved into independent living after 16 years of drifting between homelessness and support services.
But none of this was necessary. The school should have noticed there was more going on than dyslexia when I started skipping classes. The NHS who knew I was struggling with my mental health should have paid more attention. Had social services been involved, my family most likely wouldn’t have “broken down” in the first place. I love my family and I know they love me, but traditional communications weren’t working between us. We just needed a bit of support.
I was so excited and nervous to be making this step, but I knew it was the right decsision for me. I received minimal support from my old local authority, and my new one didn’t know who I was. I had to start again. Without the understanding and support from my employer, EveryYouth, I believe I could have ended up back at square one: homeless. Why? Because I couldn’t handle all the forms, the waiting, the uncertainty, the loneliness…basically the lack of support from services.
A ‘process’, no matter how comprehensive, does not neccessarily equal truly person-centrered support. I’ve met people in various public services who care but they are working within a process that dehumnaises people. It has affected me, mentally as an adult. Now imagine what that could do to a young person. Extensive support should be individual. It’s about looking beyond a process and focusing on a mindset. The mindset that you want to be able to support this person like they were your own.
That’s why I am struggling to see the prevention Burnham has promised. So far, the response seems to be dominated by how much money can be committed to tackling the visible form of homelessness, rather than investing in understanding and addressing the circumstances that lead people there in the first place. I am sure we can all agree that getting people off the streets matters. But by the time somebody is sleeping rough, something has already gone very wrong.
An additional £10 billion allocated to councils and housing associations to build more affordable homes makes a great headline. The government’s plan is to build 300,000 social and affordable homes but as of 2025 there are currently 1.34 million households on local authority housing registers. Single young people with no medical vulnerabilities or individuals who already have “safe” housing – which could be homelessness services – have the lowest priority. Individuals who have deemed themselves intentionally homeless are placed in the lowest band including young people who have experienced a family breakdown. It’s clear that very few young people will benefit until they are in a crisis.
Unfreezing the Local Housing Allowance on the other hand, would mean hundreds of thousands of people – including those with low priority – could afford to rent privately.
The Local Housing Allowance defines the maximum amount of housing benefit a household can receive to help cover the cost of rend, based on bedroom entitlement and family size.
While rents have continued to rise, the Local Housing Allowance has remained frozen since 2024. This means that it covers the rent on 1.9% of privately advertised homes, steeping even lower in London. It should be set at the 30th percentile of local market rates but currently hovers around the 15th percentile for those living in areas with fewer jobs, or the 5th percentile in urban areas where employment is available. It is estimated that restoring the Local Housing Allowance would cost £1.5 billion annually, while local authorities are spending £2.93 billion a year on temporary accommodation.
Insufficient Local Housing Allowance leaves many young people stuck in inappropriate housing, or in supported accommodation stopping other people from receiving necessary help, simply because the Local Housing Allowance is too low. So, yes build more social housing but don’t make people homeless in the meantime as that defeats the object of wanting to end rough sleeping.
Burnham announced reforms intended to help young people into work, including a £1 billion investment in apprenticeships and the Jobs Guarantee offering subsidised employment to eligible 18-24-year-olds who have been claiming Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months.
A subsidised job may provide a route into employment, but most young people in homelessness services will not be eligible for these opportunities because of the vagaries of the benefit system. An employer will obviously prioritise recruits who are subsidised over those who aren’t which means young people experiencing homelessness, who have already experienced disrupted education and a lack of support will be even further from the jobs market. How does this help young people experiencing homelessness build a life for themselves independently?
Yes, there are measures designed to ease some of the everyday costs of living, such as cap on single bus fares outside London falling to £2 from January and removing 5% VAT from domestic electribity bills until the end of 2026/2027. But this is not what young people want.
Young people in the EveryYouth Network are not starting from the same position as their peers. 90% report experiencing at least one Adverse Childhood Experience such as abuse, neglect, domestic violence, family breakdown, substance misuse and poor mental health.
Around 65% have experienced four or more, compared with 10% of the wider population and 40% have experienced 6 or more for which there are no national statistics.
This is why young people reach crisis point. This is what young people, and their families need support with. A cheaper bus fare and temporary reduction on energy bills won’t help!
Prevention is about not waiting until someone reaches crisis and then spending money trying to repair the damage. It is about identifying the underlying issues early enough to change their life trajectory.
There is a huge emphasis on supporting care leavers, which is important, but about 70% of young people experiencing homelessness are not care leavers and are not eligible for care-leaver specific provision. These young people, like me, have fallen through the gaps and are left to figure things out for themselves.
None of the measures that Prime Minister Andy Burnham has put in place will address the consequences of childhood trauma, poor mental health, prevent or repair family breakdown, diagnose neurodivergence earlier, teach functional skills, provide enough support to someone who has simply reached adulthood without the support many of us take for granted or teach a young person how to manage the responsibilities of independent living without having a safety net to fall back on.
So yes, Andy, thanks for committing 15% of your government salary. Your direction is encouraging, from the outset, but perhaps you could use that money to listen to young people who have experienced homelessness, so you understand what prevention really means.
