Homeless young people slapped with £1,800 carpet bill after finally being housed

Charities supporting young people experiencing homelessness have raised the alarm over the sky-high costs youngsters face on kitting out their council home with essentials.

While care leavers are legally entitled to receive £3,000 to cover set-up costs when they are housed, under-25s are eligible for no automatic financial support for essentials such as carpets, ovens, washing machines, fridges and freezers.

They also receive a lower rate of universal credit while local authority grants to cover the costs have been slashed, leaving young people facing bills of up to £1,800 to fit out homes with carpets.

EveryYouth, a network of youth homelessness charities, has warned the issue is seeing youngsters being plunged into poverty or racking up thousands of pounds worth of debt.

EveryYouth CEO Nicholas Connolly said: “Care leavers should get additional support to help them transition to independent adult life. But so should young people who have fallen through the gaps and end up living in homeless services. How can we possibly justify overlooking young people because they’ve fallen through the gaps in the safety net?”

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Rachel (not her real name) is in her mid-20s and moved from supported accommodation into her own one-bedroom property on a brand-new housing estate in Norfolk.

“It was a struggle for a good few weeks, not having the essential appliances,” she said. “I luckily found a cooker online for free but was still only able to cook basic, and not the healthiest, of meals having no access to a fridge. I was second guessing myself, not sure if I could be out in the world on my own.”

Several weeks later she received vouchers from Norfolk County Council’s Client Hardship Service for a washing machine and fridge freezer, thanks to the help of her local EveryYouth delivery partner The Benjamin Foundation.

“I’m now able to sleep in a bed for the first time in almost six years. I’d always been making do and just living in survival mode, but with The Benjamin Foundation’s help it truly feels like I’m actually living.”

Rachel’s tenancy support worker Anne-Monique Hipwell said the Client Hardship Fund has been significantly reduced.

“One of Rachel’s biggest upcoming expenses is carpeting the bare floors in the bedroom,” she says.

“There is little to no financial support available for flooring, and the minimum cost for carpeting these areas would be around £500, excluding fitting costs.

“Some of the young people I’ve supported have paid as much as £1,800 for full flooring installation. Many of them end up borrowing money from friends or family or taking an advance from universal credit to cover these expenses.

“I’ve worked with several young people who have gone without a fridge for months, and some have been without a washing machine even longer. What was once a standard provision through the client hardship fund, such as cookers, has been replaced in many cases with a tabletop hotplate hob.” 

Young people aged under-25 already receive a lower rate of universal credit than older people.

The standard monthly universal credit allowance is £316.98 for those under 25, compared to £400.14 for people aged 25 or over. 

Care leavers are supposed to receive £3,000 to cover set up costs, but otherwise no funding is automatically available and young people struggle enormously.

That can be particularly tricky in the case of carpets. They are often removed from social housing between tenancies, regardless of condition, over health and hygiene grounds.

The onus on replacing them then lands on the tenant and that can be a costly bill, particularly for young people.

Grants offered by local authorities are available to apply for but have been significantly reduced in recent years and can sometimes take time to arrive, youth charities said.

The result is that young people end up being held back, according to Kelly Headen, head of fostering and supported lodgings at Step by Step in the south of England.

Step by Step is one of 19 youth homelessness charities that make up the EveryYouth national Network.

“This is a pivotal time in their life. They’re only just 18. To have limitations put on them as basic as having carpet is ludicrous,” said Headen.

“They’re going to be the next generation and we should be making it as smooth as possible for them to succeed and reach their full potential.”

To offer young people some relief, EveryYouth and Step by Step are calling for people aged under 25 but do not have family support to be given the same universal credit rate for over 25 year-olds.

“This cohort of people are not the same as all young people. They fall through the gap and they need to be financially compensated,” added Headen.

The Rock Trust is a youth homelessness charity that is one of EveryYouth’s delivery partners in Scotland. Its youth housing hub lead Danny McDonagh said young people in Scotland can access a community care grant but the list of essential household items available has been shortened to just five.

“I’ve supported quite a few people on low income but they’re deemed just above the threshold and therefore might only be allowed to get one item on the list or none at all,” said McDonagh.

Last year EveryYouth provided 150 move-on grants for essentials like kitchen appliances, white goods and bedding to young people across the UK.

The EveryYouth Homed programme meant 255 young people moved into independent living with one-to-one support from specialist housing officers.

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