Barnado’s North East

£42,220 (2009/2010) for participatory research and policy action

For Youth Homelessness in the North East; Making Change Happen, an exploration of the possibilities for socially excluded young people to influence policy and practice in relation to youth homelessness in the region. The project, involving users of Barnado’s services, was developed in association with other agencies and networks. The project culminated in the production of a printed report ‘Homeless not Voiceless, Learning from young people with experience of homelessness in the North East’. The executive summary is available in a separate document and there is a DVD of the film ‘Young and Homeless’ made by the young people with ITV Fixers, for which they received a regional award. Since the conclusion of the project, Barnado’s have continued to show the film as a means of publicising the issues raised by young people. A presentation was given at Newcastle University to highlight the value of young people’s participation in research. Having been shortlisted for the Unheard Voices award, the project was invited to St James’ Palace for the prize-giving and celebration in the presence of Princess Anne. (To obtain copies of these items see contact details below.)

Policy impacts and outcomes

• The project engaged with over 80 young people with experience of homelessness in the North East. More than 20 workers delivering services to homeless young people were interviewed.
• Key issues identified include how the benefits system can result in young people having to move on from supported accommodation once they start work, or in the accrual of rent arrears which can lead to eviction. The same issues can affect single young people living in lodgings or in property on their own. These possibilities can discourage young people from considering work. Loss of housing benefit when actually starting work may also act as a disincentive.
• Barnado’s submitted information in response to the Department of Work and Pensions’ consultations on work and benefits, including Local Housing Allowance (payment of housing benefit).
• Variability of support available to homeless young people suggests the value of “One-stop” services which are available outside normal office hours.
• The biggest concern that young people expressed is about the safety of much of the accommodation in which they are placed by statutory services. Issues raised include bullying, negative peer pressures, sexual exploitation, substance misuse and being placed with people they feel uncomfortable or unsafe with, for example heavy drug users, people with mental health problems and considerably older people.
• Young people’s experience suggests that further work should be done on the relative costs and benefits of supported lodgings and hostel placements. It also raised questions about how cost effective it is for each local authority to attempt to offer the full range of provision for homeless young people and whether joint commissioning of specialist services would be more economic.
• Barnado’s central office organized a meeting in the House of Commons with a number of MPs and other decision makers.
• Barnado’s involvement in the Regional Youth Homeless Network helped to secure funding from Northern Rock Foundation for a Policy/Strategy officer to develop a Regional Youth Homelessness Strategy.
• The project contributed to Government consultations on the impact of the Local Housing Allowance on the provision of private accommodation for homeless young people and on identifying barriers to work created by the benefits system, to local authority consultations on the involvement of service users, and to research into homelessness undertaken by the Association of North East Councils (ANEC).
• A group of young people worked with ‘ITV Fixers’ to make a short TV programme and organized an event to showcase films made by vulnerable young people; a group took part in a Radio 5 budget special to comment on the budget as it was announced.
• Especially in the light of the forthcoming abolition of regional structures of government, it has become all the more imperative for national agencies to draw on evidence from the regions, such as that collected for this report. It is hoped that Barnado’s will have been encouraged to take fully on board lessons from the participative process so effectively demonstrated in this project.

© The Millfield House Foundation 2010. Registered Charity No. 271180.