Youth Housing Strategy

Youth Housing Strategy

During 2008, YHNE undertook a comprehensive consultation exercise looking at the issues and solutions to youth homelessness in the region. We hosted a consultation event, gaining the views of over 40 service providers and a number of service users. In July 2008, YHNE joined with partners from Government Office for the North East and the North East Housing Board to organise a summit for more than 25 housing associations, elected members, strategic partnership chairs and support providers to agree five priority shared solutions to tackle youth homelessness in the region.

A Regional Position Statement published in September 2008 and endorsed by the North East Housing Board reported on the findings of the summit and outlined the five shared solutions identified:

  1. Improve quality of temporary and supported accommodation to “Places of Change” ethos. ‘good quality homeless accommodation which creates better tenants and changes lives’. 
  2. Increase early intervention work in schools and with families, learning from best practice already existing in the region.
  3. Strengthen partnership working at a regional level, through strategy and policy which sets targets and draws together capital and revenue streams.
  4. Explore local and regional solutions to obstacles posed by transition it adulthood.
  5. Improve and make transparent accountability for all providers in meeting the needs of young homeless people.

The strategy is based on the premise that;

‘If we only provide homeless services to young people, we’ll only get homeless young people.’  Youth Homeless Adviser, DCLG at YHNE Move-on event, 3rd April 2012.

We have therefore produced not a homeless strategy but rather a Regional Youth Housing Strategy that sets out our plans to address young peoples’ housing needs through a coherent regional approach.

The strategy provides a regional context, policy framework and a current picture of youth homelessness.  The strategy is under-pinned by five themes identified by youth homeless services from across the region and endorsed by the North East Housing Board.  It establishes a regional strategic approach and a clear set of actions to delivering those themes across the North East.

Youth Housing Strategy

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