Young people homeless or at risk of homelessness
We have helped homeless youngsters for many years, but over the past year we have seen a significant deterioration in the support available to young people between the ages of 16 and 25 and an increase in the problems that they face. Our client group includes young people who are disadvantaged in various ways, and of them 9 have been homeless over the past year and 14 at serious risk of homelessness. A major contributing factor is psychological damage suffered through difficult or traumatic home circumstances.
This damage leads to an inability to flourish in normal society, or to relate to employers and officials in the welfare and housing systems, so that these young people become destitute and often homeless,. They return to crime and drug dealing, as their only option and enter a cycle of crime, prison and homelessness.
Direct causes of homelessness in our client group are:
- inability to engage with employment or welfare systems
- loss of income leading to eviction
- volatile interactions with officials working in supported housing
- rent arrears
- domestic abuse
- Inappropriate hostel accommodation on leaving young offenders institutions or prison
Psychological factors include:
- Negative assumptions caused by abuse and violence and negative self-evaluations which form barriers to effective interaction with employers
- Barriers to effective interaction with welfare, housing and local authority agencies
- Family disintegration leading to gang membership and crime; many are being sucked into drug dealing and disappear from the system
- Problems engaging with training and employment leading to dependence on dealers and the accommodation they provide, income they provide, drugs they provide
There are broadly two responses to childhood trauma: fight and flight. Some of our young people will be very aggressive and too volatile to engage with teachers, employers or officials whilst others will be withdrawn and will be prone to using more serious drugs due to their background anxiety and fear. Cannabis is widely used to achieve a feeling of calm and many develop a quite serious psychological dependence on it. The cost of drugs leads to debt and eventually to homelessness.