Homelessness among care leavers rises by a third over last five years

The number of care leavers who experience or are threatened by homelessness has increased by a third since 2018, according to figures released by care charity Become. The figures relate to local authority housing support received by 18- to 20-year-olds. These show there were 2,790 care experienced people in this age group facing or experiencing homelessness in 2018/19, rising to 3,710 in 2022/23. This is triple the rate of homelessness faced overall by households over the same period. Of care leavers presenting as homeless in 2022/23, three in five were already homeless by the time they received support from their local authority. According to Become 10.7 per cent of care leavers aged 18 to 20 were homeless or threatened with homelessness in 2022/23, compared with 8.9 per cent in 2018/19. Read more.