By Nick Hudd

Back in 2019, I wrote an article about the youth work response to homelessness. At the time, Welsh Government had recently announced a bold ambition to end youth homelessness by 2027. Five years later, it seems reasonable to take time to reflect on the current situation and cast an eye to the future.

Recently, various interested parties worked collectively to plan and facilitate a national conference, ‘Working Together to Address Youth Homeless’. Perhaps this event offers a tangible illustration of the current state of play and an example of the sector doing what it does best, building partnerships, seeking to address deficits, finding ways to share examples of good practice, and working together in the interest of young people.

All 22 local authority youth services collaborated and agreed to co-fund the event, along with a third sector partner, End Youth Homelessness Cymru. Welsh Government and WLGA also played a pivotal role in helping plan and facilitate the day. With the sector sometimes being accused of navel-gazing and recognising the brokerage role that youth work plays, attendees were invited from a range of professions including social care, health, and a host of voluntary/third sector organisations, which totalled almost 200 delegates. For those who may have previously questioned why we have been afforded such a prominent role in helping to address this specific agenda, such comprehensive representation suggests we are making the case.

Youth work has always prided itself on being innovative, adapting, and modifying to meet the needs of contemporary society. Recognising and building on these strengths allow us to effectively respond to youth homelessness. However, in order to move forward, we sometimes have to look back and identify areas where more development has been required.

Practitioners need to continue to move away from an over reliance on anecdotal reflections, and instead ensure they effectively articulate the strategic and systematic methodology and pedagogy that informs, shapes, and governs our work. Whilst we see ourselves as informal/non-formal educators, there has historically been a misconception by some that there is no formal framework to our approach. By using and referring to the host of tools at our disposal, we can counter such erroneous beliefs whilst improving outcomes for young people. The more we do to service these requirements, especially when interacting with those outside of the sector, the greater the comprehension by others, and the more collaborative working opportunities, inevitably leading to better outcomes.

The Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (YEPF) provides an example where we can illustrate a systematic, strategic approach, whilst linking our work to wider Welsh Government initiatives. The six key core components of the framework, not only prescribe a clear systematic approach to our work on youth homelessness, but also enable us to offer a clear and concise narrative on our approach as well as a way to start evidencing our work. Below I reflect on just two in an attempt to illustrate these points:

Early identification

Youth work has always been needs-led. In order to identify the need and act appropriately in partnership with others, we need to ensure we develop these systems. Practitioners are well adept to profiling the communities in which they are engaged, whether this is defined geographically or as part of a specified subject, such as health, youth offending, or homelessness. Establishing these systems are a continuum of this approach.

Examples of practice

By using robust data sets across various domains in housing, social care, and education we (in my own organisation) have been able to track the common causes of youth homelessness in order to inform interventions. We can identify areas including geographical and school locations, as well as specific demographics where youth homelessness presentations are higher, so we can target communities and those who have experienced specific contributing factors, with more intensive interventions. In addition, by back-tracking these individuals through engagement with a host of services, we can establish where we or others, can intervene sooner.

Brokerage

Youth work has always adopted a proactive approach in this regard. For example, signposting young people, aiding in the process of them accessing other services, offering venues in which to host meetings, or staff to support them in their interaction with others. The contributing factors and causes of youth homelessness are varied, broad ranging, and because of this, no singular organisation, department, or sector can afford to adopt a unilateral approach to addressing it.

Examples of practice

By working with young people and other providers, we have been able to identify where obstacles exist, ascertain gaps in provision, and explore any perceived lack of understanding or challenges in processes and procedures. Our ‘Voices’ project, gives young people a chance to share their experiences of accessing and using services. This helps inform both their peers and other stakeholders. We have also established a Youth Housing and Homelessness Forum, where participants use their own experiences to identify issues and collectively work with partners to find solutions. We have developed information resources, including videos and infographics which explain where to get help and support, who from and how. Such a collaborative approach aids the brokerage agenda, ensuring we work together to establish a continuity of provision and young people receive the right support, at the right time by the right people

As previously alluded to, linking our work to other wider Welsh Government initiatives encourages Youth Work practitioners and other professional partners to develop a better strategic understanding of the role we play in this and other agendas. For example, the youth homeless element of YEPF is referred to in Welsh Government documents:

• Children and young people’s plan
• Child Poverty Strategy for Wales 2024
• Ending Homelessness in Wales: A high level action plan 2021-2026
• Housing Support Grant Guidance

Reflection on these few examples highlights how our work transcends a host of strategic initiatives and work across different domains. We, as a sector, need to capitalise on this and ensure all stakeholders are aware of our proactive function.

In my previous article, I referred to ‘In Defence of Youth Work’ who suggested the youth sector generated at least £10 for every £1 of sector expenditure. Our approach of involving young people in designing, delivering, co-facilitating, and evaluating ours and others stakeholder’s interventions, not only ensure such provisions are meeting their needs, but also adds financial value. To put it crudely, this input comes at little cost.

Locally we facilitate a furniture and equipment loan scheme which is only able to function because of the generosity of people and businesses in our community making donations that enable young people to equip and furnish their homes. All this however takes another form of investment. Time. Relationship building needs time. Effective systematic approaches require time. Local, regional, and national work takes time to develop. A long-term progressive strategy needs to be afforded appropriate time. In order to make the case for financial investment, we need to ensure all the elements reflected on above shape, inform, and steer our work moving forward.