As the leading provider of advocates and friends for children in and leaving care across England and Wales, NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) warmly welcomes the commitments made by Keir Starmer to make sure all care leavers “will have a roof over their heads”. Finding safe and secure housing is one of the most profound challenges facing care leavers when creating their adult lives. NYAS is delighted to hear that care leavers will be given priority access to social housing and exemption from local connection requirements. Making the right to a home a reality for all care leavers will also require action from councils, landlords and lettings agents, if they are to be able to find a home in the private rental sector, not just in social housing. We look forward to working with government to ensure their commitment to care leavers' housing rights is made real, consistently, through the Renter's Rights Bill and the forthcoming Children's Wellbeing legislation.
Rita Waters, Group CEO of NYAS, said “It should be a source of national shame that thousands of care leavers face homelessness at 18, when the state became their parent to look after them properly. No parent would watch their child grow into adulthood without ongoing moral, financial and practical support, let alone to face the horrors of homelessness. Keir Starmer gave vital recognition of this injustice in his speech, and putting his commitment to ensure care leavers have a roof over their head into practice will be something he can count on us all to support. For care leavers who need or want to enter the private rental sector there is still much more to be done. We want to see the best practice in some councils, supporting their care leavers as tenants, to be spread nationwide. The Renters Rights Bill offers a vital opportunity to make sure that no-one excludes care leavers from accessing the homes they so desperately need.”
