Page contents
Children, Families and Young People
Children, Families and Young People
The numbers of families and young people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless across the region is significant.
The Homelessness Taskforce’s Children, Families and Young People’s Task Group is working with a wide range of partners to lead the contribution to and promotion of Designing out Homelessness for children, families and young people in the WMCA region.
The main focus of the group is to promote and encourage early prevention activity that leads to a reduction in the number and time households spend in temporary accommodation; and an increase in the number of households in secure and affordable accommodation.
The group has been curating examples of effective practice in prevention and sharing those examples across the region, commissioning research on key issues such as use of Temporary Accommodation and promoting joint working between agencies.
Women experiencing Domestic Abuse are at significant risk of homelessness, with DA consistently featuring as one of the top three reasons for homeless applications to local authorities in our region.
We have included work on Domestic Abuse as an integral part of the CFYP group and have been working with partners across housing, criminal justice and related areas to begin the work of influencing practice and promoting effective housing led responses to this critical issue.
An important part of the early work of the group has been to explore effective ways of promoting gender responsive trauma informed approaches to supporting women affected by DA and homelessness.
Children and Families Resources
Young People
One of the great strengths of the West Midlands is its young population. Birmingham is the youngest city in Europe with 40% of the population under 25. Young people who can remain safely in a family home are able to live, work or study and be benefit free. However, young people, including care leavers, who are not able to draw on such support have more limited options.
There are also many young people who need the support provided in supported accommodation and who may need to remain in supported accommodation for some time, because of the shortage of affordable move-on accommodation. Young people making the transition from supported accommodation into independence face a significant number of challenges not least of which are navigating the benefits system and managing their finances as they make that move.
As part of the work of the Taskforce in 2022 we funded an important piece of research focused on those challenges. Facilitated by St Basils, the research was carried out by the Centre for Research in Social Policy, an independent research centre based at Loughborough University. It comprised 21 in-depth interviews with young people aged 17 – 25 across the West Midlands who were living in or had moved on from supported housing after experiencing or been at risk of homelessness.
The research highlighted the growing impact of low income and the social security system on young peoples’ living standards and their opportunities to transition out of homelessness. The research also revealed how young peoples’ employment circumstances interact with their financial and housing situation and shape their ability to make ends meet and plan for their future.
Young People Resources
The Private Rented Sector
The private rented sector (PRS) has grown significantly over the past decade, accounting for approximately 19% of all households across the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) region in 2024. It plays a dual and often conflicting role in local housing systems: while the PRS is both a major contributor to homelessness - driven by unaffordability, insecurity, and variable quality - it is also the principal means through which local authorities (LAs) discharge their housing duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. This tension lies at the heart of current challenges and opportunities.
In this context, as part of the work of the Children, Families and Young People Task Group, the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce commissioned Social Finance in 2025 to examine the role and potential of the PRS in preventing and responding to homelessness in the WMCA region. The full report Understanding the Private Rented Sector in the West Midlands Combined Authority Region combines evidence and insights from data analysis, a review of LA housing and homelessness policies and strategies, and primary research conducted with landlords and tenants across the region. The report recommendations outline local, regional and national level opportunities for the PRS to be effectively leveraged to help meet housing needs.
As a result of this work, the Homelessness Taskforce, alongside the WMCA and local authorities, will be further exploring how the region can respond to the challenges and opportunities set out in the recommendations.