Young people leaving care deserve fair access to accommodation

With your help we can make it easier for young people leaving care to find a place they can call home.

One in three care leavers become homeless in the first two years after they leave care (APPG for Ending Homelessness, 2017). Over one in ten (13%) of young people leaving care said landlords were unwilling to rent to them (Centrepoint, 2017). This is often because they don’t have a parent who can lend them a deposit or act as a guarantor. 

The Renters (Reform) Bill going through the UK Parliament offers a chance to help fix this situation. The Bill already includes provisions to stop landlords discriminating against benefit claimants and those with children. But at the moment there’s nothing about care leavers in it. You can help us change that.

Young people leaving care deserve to be protected by law so landlords cannot discriminate against them when making decisions about who to let properties to. This important change would make a real difference to thousands of young people who are struggling to find suitable accommodation and would help reduce the chance of them ending up homeless or living in unsafe places.
I have found the cost of accommodation challenging because I came from a broken, unorganised background, not a lot of places would take me, and those that would had a long waiting list.

Young person with experience of care on trying to find somewhere to live.

Find out more about what we’re doing to help young people leaving care get fair access to accommodation.