For the 129,000 young people facing homelessness, International Youth Day is no cause for celebration.

If we are to truly celebrate the youth of today, we must have a national strategy to end youth homelessness.

This International Youth Day, we are calling on the UK government set-up and commit to a national strategy that will end youth homelessness. International Youth Day celebrates young people, championing the potential of youth as partners in today's society, and owners of tomorrow's future. It is rightly a day of empowerment.
But for too many of our young people, there can feel very little to celebrate on this day.

Last year in the UK, over 129,000 16 to 25-year-olds approached their council as homeless. That is 353 people a day. 1 person every 4 minutes. However, this number is only the tip of the iceberg. With many feeling unable to approach their council or lacking resources to do so, it is thought that many, many more are among our hidden homeless population. This is unacceptable. The harm to these young people, both as partners in today’s society and owners of tomorrow, may be far reaching. Though the true scale of this crisis may be unknown, the solution is not.

We are one of more than 100 other homeless charities and youth organisations asking why the UK government does not have a plan for those 129,000 young people at risk of homelessness.

A one-size fits all approach is no more suited to the multifaceted experience of homelessness than it is to the multifaceted experience of life itself. A targeted strategy informed by young people’s lived experience will ensure young people are no longer systematically overlooked in local or national homelessness and housing strategies.

We are calling on all political parties to adopt our strategy, created by the Plan for 129k campaign that was launched the 12th June. the strategy prioritises three main areas:

Prevention- targeted prevention that stops young people from being at risk of the experience of homelessness.

Housing- finding safer, more appropriate housing for the young people experiencing homelessness.

Finances- ensuring better and fairer pay is available to young people, enabling them to build independent and successful lives.

Understanding the causes of youth homelessness is vital for understanding the solution. The youth homelessness charity, Centrepoint reported that 58% of their service users left their homes due to a breakdown in family relations. However, with roughly 38% of their service users having been in care and roughly 20% of their users being asylum seekers, the causes of youth homelessness are complex and varied.

That is why a multi-faceted and complex response is necessary.

In Greater Manchester, we know these solutions can work. Greater Manchester is amongst those leading the way in tackling both homelessness and rough sleeping, and young people feature explicitly in the region’s homelessness prevention strategy and ongoing work.

The government must invest proper resources to understand and tackle this issue. A radical approach to end youth homelessness must be taken as the situation cannot be allowed to get any worse.

Without commitment to this national strategy, many young people will continue to be forced to navigate the precarious and dangerous decision of spending nights between sofas and the streets. Without a solid plan, the opportunity, freedom and freewill of youth could be robbed from more of our young people. Action must be taken to ensure the innocence of youth can be preserved for our next generation, and the youth of today are empowered as partner’s in society.

Donate today and know that your money will help tackle homelessness across our city-region for a fairer and more sustainable future.