EveryYouth’s CEO, Nicholas Connolly, reflects on Alan Milburn’s interim report, exploring why youth homelessness must be recognised as a key factor in young people becoming NEET – and what needs to change to improve outcomes.
After absorbing Alan Milburn’s interim report, I’ve found it deeply encouraging. Without wanting to be overly reductive, its central message is simple: back young people and they’ll thrive. Don’t, and many won’t. The evidence increasingly supports this.
Like many people working to support marginalised young people, I know this to be true. However, I do have a few reflections.
We welcome the report’s recognition of overlapping disadvantage. Not all young people are the same and there is no silver bullet. However, youth homelessness receives relatively little attention despite being a significant risk factor for becoming NEET. In fact the report only mentions homeless young people 7 times and those mentions are all within one paragraph.
Milburn’s report outlines four cohorts; homeless young people are, in many respects, a fifth cohort facing acute disadvantage. While some are care leavers, young carers, young parents, or young offenders; the majority are not. Targeted interventions, such as those delivered through and by EveryYouth, can set young people on a completely different trajectory and are often both effective and cost-efficient.
The report is right to highlight the thousands of children and young people who continue to fall through gaps in the system. However, I am not sure it fully captures how many lives are affected by systems that rely on referrals and disclosure. Professionals can only respond to needs they can see, and much trauma remains hidden. Professionals can only refer trauma they see and most of it never comes to light.
Children and young people need safe mechanisms through which they can communicate their experiences and ask for support. Many victims don’t even realise they are victims until decades after-the-fact. Whole-cohort approaches, such as the Upstream model being piloted across parts of the UK, offer one example of how this can be achieved through earlier identification and intervention.
The report is also right to challenge current incentives. Too often, systems reward short-term crisis management rather than long-term outcomes. Youth homeless service providers are paid the bare minimum to stop young people sleeping rough in the short-term. That work is essential. Yet there is no statutory provision to address the underlying causes of homelessness (i.e. childhood trauma).
Youth homelessness services are uniquely placed to do more. They already provide safe accommodation, trusted relationships, and consistent support. They don’t need to travel anywhere, apply for anything or even be referred. These services should be designed to invest heavily in homeless young people so they move-on to employment, not keep them safe until social housing becomes available.
Project Flourish, a collaboration between EveryYouth and Hays, demonstrates what is possible. When employers are supported to understand young people’s circumstances and practical barriers are removed, homeless young people can secure and sustain excellent jobs.
Issues like youth unemployment and homelessness can feel insoluble – inevitable consequences of the market economy – but if we chunk these challenges down, scale approaches proven to work with specific cohorts, and focus on young people’s needs rather than processes or even systems, we can transform outcomes for millions and drive economic and social renewal.
