Housing Needs: Young People

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) for bringing forward this debate. I will focus on the housing needs of care leavers and those with care experience.

Every year around 12,000 young people leave foster care or residential homes and begin their transition into independent living. For most young people, that stage of life can be supported by family, friends and a social network—they have a safety net—but so often for care leavers that safety net does not exist. As a result, they face a sharply heightened risk of homelessness: in 2024-25 alone, 4,610 care leavers aged between 18 and 20 experienced homelessness. That represents a 54% increase over five years, with rates rising 2.5 times faster than among the general population.

Those numbers represent young people who are being pushed into crisis at the very point that they should be building their future. The Government have recognised that challenge, and they are introducing important changes through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. That includes additional support for care leavers at risk of homelessness, a raft of changes in the Department of Health and Social Care around prescriptions, and wholesale reform of children’s social care. The Bill is a hugely positive and welcome step, but I hope that we can go further.

There remain significant barriers that prevent care leavers from accessing accessible and suitable accommodation. The private sector, which many young people rely on, is particularly difficult for them to navigate. Research from Centrepoint has found that care leavers are significantly more likely to be rejected by landlords, who are unwilling to rent to that particular group. At the same time, 40% reported they could not afford deposits and up-front costs.

Practical solutions do already exist, but they are not mandatory and they are not used widely enough. Local authority rent deposit and guarantor schemes make a real difference, yet fewer than half of councils currently offer them. Expanding such schemes could be a straightforward and effective way to open doors for care leavers who would otherwise be locked out of the housing market.

In Doncaster, we have fantastic organisations such as Doncaster Housing for Young People, which provides real support, particularly for those without a safety net. In Doncaster, like in so many areas, there is a critical shortage of affordable, move-on housing. Many young people are ready to live independently but are unable to do so because of a lack of appropriate accommodation. There are not enough one-bedroom properties and, as a result, young people are often penalised by things like the bedroom tax, which they simply cannot afford on basic universal credit.

Young people, particularly care leavers, who are supported by Doncaster Housing for Young People are ready to move on, but they are stuck. They are stuck not because they are unprepared or have not been supported, but because the system does not provide housing that they can realistically access.

If we are serious about improving outcomes for care leavers, we need to go further. We must increase the amount of genuinely affordable housing and ensure that they have access to it. We must expand access to practical support, such as deposit and guarantor schemes, where it is not already available. Finally, we must ensure that the welfare system as a whole works with, not against, young people who are trying to build independent lives in terms of both housing and employment. Leaving care should be the start of a future, not the beginning of a housing crisis.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Oral Answers to Questions

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

The hon. Gentleman—who I have great affection for, as we go through our tenure—is a highly experienced former councillor, and he will know that local authorities already have article 4 powers. If he has evidence that those powers are not proving effective, I would really like to have more information.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

In the light of the Government’s determination to bring prosperity to coalfield communities like Doncaster, does the Minister share my desire for the fast delivery of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust industrial project? It is also important to transfer any potential funds directly to the CRT, so as not to delay any delivery with bureaucratic processes and bidding.

[Alex Norris]

The Government are committed to investing in coalfield communities, and I was pleased to meet my hon. Friend and Mayor Ros Jones to talk about their exciting plans in Doncaster, which we are investing in. We are looking very closely at what the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has sent us; the trust is, of course, a great legacy of the previous Labour Government, and we are committed to working with it.

Coalfields Regeneration Trust

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend and neighbour makes the important point that this is about pride, power and people. The sooner we see the Government respond positively to his calls and to the calls of many on the Labour Benches, the better.

Wages in the former coalfield communities are 6% to 7% lower than the national average. There is a shortage of quality jobs, as we have heard, leading to a brain drain, as working-age residents with degree-level qualifications leave to find jobs elsewhere. This is a dangerous cycle; our young people are forced to leave their communities to find the best jobs. It leaves communities like mine losing out not just on economic growth, but on the energy and dynamism that young people bring to the job market.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. Does he agree that it is imperative that the Government stand firm on their agenda to invest in green industries? Members on the Opposition Benches, who I notice are not in their places tonight, want to cancel that green agenda, which will not just cancel opportunities for coalfields like ours to re-industrialise and provide those high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, but jeopardise the opportunity for this country as a whole to have cheaper and more secure energy.

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point and I agree with her wholeheartedly. It says a lot that people who have been mouthing off in recent weeks and months are missing in action this evening.

The 2024 “State of the Coalfields” report found that,

“if the coalfields had been a region in their own right, all clustered together in one corner of the country, the statistics would probably show them to be the most deprived region in the United Kingdom.”

That is unacceptable and it says a lot. It would be the responsibility of any Government of this country to address this disparity, but for a Labour Government, it must be our duty to do so. Our movement was born in the coalfields, ensuring that communities like mine in Newcastle-under-Lyme could prosper and thrive, while making sure that local people had a fair go, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) alluded to. That is why, in 1999, the last Labour Government set up the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. It was created to support the regeneration of coalfield communities, and it did just that. Since 1999, the CRT has helped 26,332 people into work, created and safeguarded 5,174 jobs, and helped 341,871 people to improve their health and wellbeing.

Renters’ Rights Bill

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I rise to speak in support of the Bill, which will bring a range of positive and necessary reforms to the private rented sector. I welcome it wholeheartedly. The private rented sector is growing rapidly, and it is imperative that tenants and landlords can operate the system safely and with appropriate protections. I am particularly pleased to see the application of the decent homes standard to the rented sector, which will ensure that tenants have the tools to challenge unsafe housing conditions and hold landlords and letting agents to account. I know that renters in Doncaster Central will be pleased to hear that.

I take this opportunity to ask the Government to address the issues that care leavers face in securing housing in my constituency and across the country. It was welcome to hear the Prime Minister say in his conference speech that we will provide homes for all young care leavers, because that has never been more important. That is a group who continue to face discrimination from some private landlords. A survey by Centrepoint found that one in 10 care leavers have been refused accommodation by private landlords. The same survey revealed that 40% of care leavers have insufficient savings for a deposit. Those factors can often force care leavers into unsafe living situations, such as poor-quality properties or living with other adults who are older and unfamiliar. Ultimately, these barriers lead to a lot of care leavers becoming homeless.

Prior to entering this House, I was a prison officer, and I worked with many care-experienced men, who were there disproportionately, because care leavers represent just under a third of the prison population. Lack of access to safe and affordable housing limits employment and education opportunities and prevents access to financial and health services. This is contributing to the poor outcomes we see with this group, and we must change those outcomes.

It is my hope that the Government will consider taking up some of the recommendations offered in the latest briefing from Barnardo’s to ensure that care leavers have the unique legal protections and resources they need to access housing in the private rented sector. That includes the provision of rent deposit and guarantor schemes across all local authorities and the addition of care leavers to the groups against whom landlords cannot discriminate when letting out property. I also hope that the crucial reforms in the Bill will be accompanied by the accelerated building of more social homes in the UK to ensure greater access to secure housing.

I am glad that this Government are introducing crucial protections for tenants, and my next hope is that their efforts will ensure that all UK residents, including those who have left care, can access the safe accommodation that they need and deserve.