Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve supported accommodation for homeless young people in (a) Manchester, Withington constituency, (b) Manchester and (c) nationally.

The Government is committed to preventing youth homelessness and is taking specific action across England to support young homeless people into stable accommodation, education, training or employment.

We have invested £14 million to enable Crisis to support 10,000 vulnerable single people into privately rented tenancies, of which 41 projects are specifically targeted at young people.

Our £15 million Fair Chance Fund payment by results scheme is supporting 1,600 vulnerable homeless 18-25 year olds into accommodation, education, training and employment. Projects for the scheme are being delivered across the country including the Manchester area.

In addition, the Government is investing £40 million in Platform for Life, a lower rent shared accommodation programme to provide young homeless people with a stable base for work and study. We have also implemented the ‘Youth Accommodation Pathway’, good practice model that supports young people to remain in the family home where it is safe to do so and offers tailored support for those who cannot. This has been disseminated across all English local authorities.