Support Services for Homeless in the UK - Dissertation Example

The present existing data on the homeless 16-18-year-olds in the UK has a lot of strictures, especially taking into cognizance the fact that these numbers represent only the young people that remain in contact with the UK services. According to reports by the Shelter in 2008, around 130000 children below the age of 18 years were homeless, while a report by the Joseph Rowan Tree Foundation in the UK estimates that around 75,000 young children within the age group 16-24 years experienced homelessness in the UK in the years 2006–07 (Quilgars, Johnsen, and Pleace, 2008, xi).

The Joseph Rown Tree foundation further reports that of the 75000 reported as homeless, 43,075 were given the official status of homeless that were within the age group 16–24 years; while of the 43075 around 8,337 were given ‘priority need’ category as they were between the age group 16 - 17 years. Additionally, almost 31,000 homeless adolescents that fell under the unauthorised category also used the UK government’s Supporting People services in the period 2006–07 (ibid).

The overall number considered as homeless in the UK mainly increased after the broadening the scope of the ‘priority need’ category during the early years of the 21st century, though present observations reveal that the levels have shown a downward decline in the last few years. From an overall view, England and Wales have shown a decrease in the number of homeless adolescent youths seeking Support services, but numbers remained constant in North Ireland and Scotland (ibid). In the Joseph Rown Tree foundation report of 2008, we find Scotland shows the highest number of homeless young people aged 16–18 years (a rate of 15.

1 young adolescents for every 1,000 young adolescents within the general population). This is followed by Wales with a rate of 8.2 for 1000, England showing 4.9 for every 1000 and Northern Ireland with a rate of 4.8 per 1000; however, each country shows remarkable urban/rural and regional variations in the rates of the homeless young adolescents.