Care leavers can no longer be deemed 'intentionally homeless'

The ‘intentionally homeless’ rule will not apply to care leavers under an amendment tabled to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

However, a care leavers’ charity said the bill needed to go further to stem the rise in homeless care leavers.

Intentional homelessness is a legal term for when a council deems a person is to blame for being homeless, for example if they were evicted for anti-social behaviour or refused accommodation. It means they lose their right to housing.

Campaigners have called for this not to apply to care leavers, who are already much more likely to face homelessness. 

One in three become homeless within two years of leaving care. The number of 18 to 20-year-old homeless care leavers has risen by 54 per cent in England over the last five years.

Before the General Election the previous government wrote to local authorities stating that intentional homeless decisions for care leavers should be “exceptional”.

The new amendment to the bill will make it unlawful for councils to apply the rule to care leavers up to the age of 25.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said: “Care leavers, without the safety net of family support that so many of us rely on, often face their challenges alone.

“This support can be the difference between building a stable future or falling through the cracks.

“It will ensure councils, as a corporate parent, make sure care leavers are not left without a place to call home or held back by the hand they were dealt at the start of their life.”

Children’s minister Janet Daby added: “Having been a social worker for over 17 years, I recognise the many challenges that children face through no fault of their own.

“We want to make sure that they are fully supported as they make the transition into adulthood and are not left to fend for themselves with housing, jobs and life skills.”

The amendment was also welcomed by Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive of Become, a charity supporting children in care and young care leavers.

Speaking during a parliamentary committee debate last month, she said: “We hear from young people who have found themselves homeless because, for example, they accepted a place at university in a different part of the country, and they were then deemed by their home local authority to be intentionally homeless and so not eligible for further homelessness assistance. We think that needs to change. That is a welcome step.”

But she said the bill needed to go further in providing more support for care leavers, including extending ‘priority need’ from aged 21 to 25. 

Sacks-Jones added: “We are also disappointed not to see in the bill the extension of corporate parenting—something that the government have previously committed to.”