Government plans to abolish housing benefit for under-25s could leave tens of thousands of young people homeless. Currently 385,000 people under 25 claim housing benefit across the UK. Many of these people work, or are looking for work, others are sick or disabled. More than half are parents bringing up children.The prime minister said1 that instead of claiming housing benefit, under-25s should move back in with their parents but Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, has warned that for many this would be impossible. Last year ten thousand people were accepted as homeless because their parents would not or could not house them and more than a third of homeless people were aged 16-24.
In response to the threat, Crisis has [12 Nov] launched No going home, a campaign to protect housing benefit for under-25s. The charity has warned that many young people have fled violence or abuse in the family home, others have children of their own or are working where they live. In many cases parents won’t have the space to house them or will have moved away. For many young people, housing benefit is all that stands between them and homelessness
For those with young children the prospect of homelessness or being forced to live in overcrowded conditions with their parents will be particularly damaging. Additionally, 28,000 who would be affected are sick or disabled. 66,000 of young people claiming housing benefit are in work, many others are looking for it. If their housing benefit were cut they may be forced to move away from their job, and potentially be consigned to long-term unemployment. Crisis believes that the knock on costs of problems such as homelessness that would result from any cut to under-25s’ ability to claim housing benefit would greatly reduce any potential savings. The plan also contradicts other government policies, including the “bedroom tax”, which aims to encourage people in social housing to move to a smaller property when their children move out.
Key statistics
- 385,000 people age 18-24 claim housing benefit
- 204,000 (53%) have dependent children
- At least 17% (66,000) of 18-24 year olds claiming housing benefit are also working
- 28,000 (7%) are sick or disabled and claiming ESA
- Around a quarter are jobseekers (99,000)
- 45% of 18-24 year olds on JSA find a job within three months and 64% within 6 months