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Young people leaving care in England have lost their right to local authority housing by going to university, and have been told they made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ because they turned down accommodation they were unable to access while studying.
The development comes amid a sharp drop in social housing fuelled by insufficient rental accommodation, the demolition of homes, and rent to buy schemes. Care leaver homelessness has risen by 33% among 18 to 22 year olds since 2018, while one third of care leavers now experience homelessness in the first two years after leaving care.
Under the Housing Act 1996, a person can only be found to have made themselves intentionally homeless if they have deliberately done, or failed to do, something which ends their accommodation, or if the housing is still available and it would be reasonable for them to continue staying there.
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Government guidance on intentional homelessness adds that “an act or omission should not generally be treated as deliberate, even where deliberately carried out, if it is forced upon the applicant through no fault of their own”. However, local authority discretion to deny housing has left care leavers in higher education struggling to stay off the streets.
“We hear from young people who are told that they are so called intentionally homeless because they have moved to a different part of the country to go to university,” Katharine Sacks-Jones, the Chief Executive of Become, a national charity offering support to children in care and care leavers, told Byline Times. “This is no fault of the young person. And we’re talking about very young people who are 18, 19, 20 years old.”
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Children must leave the care system on their eighteenth birthday and are expected to live independently, even if they attend university or access other forms of higher education. Local authorities are then required to provide a list of services for care leavers in their areas, but they vary widely between councils and help is often limited.
While young people are entitled to a range of support services until age 25, including the right to a personal adviser who must keep in regular contact with them, and housing support once they turn 18, there is currently no legal duty on local authorities to ensure that care leavers are given housing after completing their education.
Lucinda Fernandes Marvilha lost her housing support when she was 21 after attending a university which was not in her local authority area of North London. She was initially offered a flat in her area but was already enrolled for a Spanish and Dance degree at The University of Sunderland almost 300 miles away, making a daily commute impossible.
Despite having a personal adviser, the 27-year-old was never informed about her housing rights or told what would happen if she left her area to study.
“The only reason I went so far away was because that was the only university that did that combined degree,” she explained, adding: “They are also well known for supporting people in care. They supported me really well in terms of course units and scholarships.”
When Lucinda graduated, her local authority informed her that she would not be provided with housing after turning down the original flat and that she had made herself homeless as a result. She was able to return to her foster carers who took her in without financial support from the local authority, after she ‘aged out’ of the foster care system at 21.
Sophie Shasby, who left care at 17, was told without warning that she lost her right to accommodation after staying in her university’s halls of residence while doing a nursing course.
