Young people leaving care deserve fair access to accommodation

No child should enter adulthood alone 

Many young people rely on their family long after they're 18. But young people who have spent time in care don’t always have that safety net.

They might not have a family home to return to if something goes wrong, someone to phone when they aren’t sure how to fix a problem, or a guarantor to help them rent a place to live, often leaving them feel alone.

The reality young people leaving care face 

One in three care-experienced young people become homeless in the first two years after they leave care (APPG for Ending Homelessness, 2017). Over one in ten (13%) of young people leaving care said landlords were unwilling to rent to them (Centrepoint, 2017). This is often because they don’t have a parent who can lend them a deposit or act as a guarantor.  

Campaigning for change

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Young people leaving care deserve to be protected by law so landlords cannot discriminate against them when making decisions about who to let properties to.

This important change would make a difference to thousands of young people who are struggling to find suitable accommodation and would help reduce the chance of them ending up homeless or living in unsafe places. 

We invited Leo and Shelby, two young people who grew up in care, to join us for our roundtable event in the Westminster Parliament to meet with politicians to talk about this issue. They spoke of their experiences and the challenges they faced accessing housing in the private sector. 

After our roundtable event, we tabled an amendment to the Renters (Reform) Bill to call for more support for young people leaving care. 

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The Bill already included provisions to stop landlords discriminating against benefit claimants and those with children but lacked clear support for people leaving care. 

Our amendment would have made it illegal for landlords to discriminate against young people if they had been in care. Over 350 of you emailed your MP to ask them to support this amendment and we got support from many MPs from all parties. Unfortunately, the amendment did not pass, however we aren’t stopping there. 

Next steps 

We know how important access to good quality and safe accommodation is. That’s why we will continue to campaign on this issue and work with the Westminster Government to ensure young people have more support when leaving care.  

This includes continuing to campaign for all local authorities to provide rent respite and guarantor schemes which will help care leavers access the private rented sector so they have an equal opportunity to find a place they can call home.