Cost of Living Policy asks

The cost of living crisis is a national emergency, and akt have some key recommendations to immediately and markedly improve the lives of young LGBTQ+ people facing homelessness.

1. A National LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness Strategy needs to be implemented

This would be an intergovernmental means of addressing the additional barriers that people from LGBTQ+ communities, people of colour, disabled people, and migrants face, on top of addressing the issues around housing provision in the UK. By providing a framework for young LGBTQ+ people to access housing and homelessness services, the government would be preventing lifetimes of homelessness. Policy makers also need to improve the monitoring of gender identity and sexuality in housing and homelessness services so that national policy is responsive to the needs of LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness.

2. We need housing benefits to rise in line with inflation.

From the 6th April this year, families claiming housing benefits saw the personal allowance linked to the payment rise by 3.1%; whereas the ONS reports that housing costs rose by 8.6% in the 12 months to August 2022. The phrase ‘cost of living’ is so frequently heard at the moment because people are unable to afford to live without worrying about how to stay in their homes.

3. Finally, we need a temporary ban on evictions

Much like those seen throughout the coronavirus lockdowns.

As we approach what will clearly be a very difficult winter for most people in the UK, we are launching a cost of living services campaign to help point young people across the country in the direction of services, resources, and organisations that will be able to help them. Like most services charities, we are almost constantly at capacity when it comes to the caseload of our services team, and our research has shown that less than half (44 per cent) of LGBTQ+ young people were aware of housing support services the last time they experienced homelessness.

Head back to our cost of living landing page to find all our resources

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