leavingcare.org

Accommodation project

  

Young people leave care to live in a variety of accommodation arrangements.  The latest statistics available identify that the majority of care leavers who were 19 in 2008 were in independent accommodation (42%), however 12% were living with their family or friends 11% in some supported accommodation and 9% in supported lodgings. 

Whilst there are wider policy issues in relation to accommodation, we have divided the most of the resources and information on these accommodation pages into three levels  of activity (SOP), that are all required to enhance accommodation services long term. 

  1. strategic, (actions for directors)

  2. operational (actions for managers of services)  and

  3. personal (actions for frontlineworkers)

 

NCAS work

NCAS was funded by Department of Education in 2008/09 to improve the accommodation prospects of young people in and from care.  Accommodation issues & solutions is the briefing that details the findings of this project .  The accommodation work has now become core to NCAS services and we continue to improve the choice, quality and quantity of accommodation for young people leaving care.

NCAS has produced a publication The Journey Home: Care leavers’ successful transition to independent accommodation and supported young people to produce home truths that can be downloaded by LA’s young people and those who support them.

Why is Suitable accommodation so critical for care leavers?

Leaving home is a gradual process for most young people with the opportunity to return for short or longer periods of time. The White Paper Care Matters noted that "at all the consultations we had with young people, accommodation has been raised as a very pressing and real issue for them".  The paper also reported that the average age of those leaving the family home is 24 years of age.  However, for many young people in care this is not their experience: their transition is driven by age not readiness as a result it can be abrupt with little or no chance of returning.  Government figures show that 24% of care leavers leave the care system at age 16, and a further 14% at 17 years of age.   Those leaving care are a diverse group of young people with different needs for support and differing levels of practical and emotional capability for living independently. 

 

Resources

The project has collated a number of resources listed under the strategic, operational and personal pages.

Current resources developed by NCAS are available here