23,500 young people face homelessness this winter: 'Now is the worst time to be homeless'

Throughout 14 years in the care system, 20-year-old Jahz kept two items with him at all times: his collection of teddy bears and a shirt his uncle gave him before he died.

Jahz, who came to youth homelessness charity Centrepoint just after his 18th birthday after being in and out of the care system from the age of four, explained that these objects had been a consistent comfort to him while moving around throughout his childhood.

“I started my teddy collection when I was three years old, I still have a lot of these teddies to this day, including Simba, a lion teddy,” Jahz, from west London, told the Big Issue. “I’ve had them with me for so long and I don’t think I could give them away now. They hold so many memories, supporting me through tough times.”

Read more: 

• London homelessness centre forced to turn young people away due to ‘unprecedented demand’
• ‘Staggering’ increase in young people facing homelessness, charity says
• There is no single image of a ‘homeless person’. Let’s bust the myths about homelessness

Jahz chose the objects that got him through difficult periods to feature in Centrepoint’s new campaign highlighting youth homelessness, with figures from the charity estimating that 23,500 young people will be at risk of homelessness in the UK this winter.

The charity found that one young person aged between 16 and 24 faces homelessness every four minutes, with at least one young person per day calling the Centrepoint helpline because a local council has wrongly turned them away from homelessness support.

In order to put a spotlight on the youth homelessness crisis this winter, Centrepoint has launched an installation in central London telling the story of several young people who have experienced homelessness through important objects which have “helped them survive their darkest moments”, including Jahz’s teddies and shirt.

He explained that while he’s “not a particularly sentimental person”, his teddies and his uncle’s shirt were the only things he consistently kept with him while he was in care, and that they “felt like a connection to where I’d been before”.

“I have my uncle’s shirt,” he added. “He had cystic fibrosis, it’s a genetic condition with the lungs where they create too much mucus, and it creates struggles with breathing and kind of ruins the immune system.

“One of the things he did was he was able to get married just before he died, and afterwards, he left me the shirt he wore at his wedding, and I held on to that.”

The charity’s exhibition is inspired by London’s Winter Wonderland. Around 2.5 million people visit the attraction every year spending nearly £100 million, and the Centrepoint exhibition named “Winter Wanderland” is designed to highlight the scale of the youth homelessness crisis by comparison.

Visitors to the installation in London’s Outernet will be encouraged to donate or sponsor a room through Centrepoint so a young person in crisis can access safe accommodation over winter.

Jahz, now an aspiring actor, drew attention to the issue of “hidden homelessness” in the UK, telling the Big Issue that he didn’t have to sleep on the streets, and that “not everyone who counts as homeless does”.

“I do know people who have been in that situation, but I am fortunate enough myself that I was able to be picked up immediately from my care home and sent straight into Centrepoint,” he said.

“Now is probably the worst time to be homeless for young people, with the financial crisis and everything going on, it’s hard,” Jahz explained, encouraging young people facing homelessness to approach Centrepoint for support.

“Centrepoint is a very free environment. They’re there for you, but they don’t overstep,” he said. “They let you still be yourself, but they will give you as much support as you need, as long as you don’t abuse the system, as long as you don’t abuse what they give you, they’ll be there for you time and time again. It’s typically a safe space for people, young people like myself.”

He added that he has received “a lot of support” from the charity, from food vouchers and access to food banks, to helping him with “budgeting mistakes”, to offering him suits to wear for job interviews.

“There’s support that I’ve got from Centrepoint that’s really helped me,” he told the Big Issue. “Donations go a long way”.

He added that his biggest dream is to become an actor, but while he’s “passionate” about acting, he’s not “in it for the fame”, and his goal is “just to have a comfortable life”.

“Really, it might sound a bit counterintuitive, but I want to just live a quiet life,” he said. “Acting is what I’m passionate about. It’s the only thing I want to do as a career, so that’s why I want to be an actor, not really for the fame.”

He added: “I hope that I can show young people like me, who might not believe they’ve got anything going on in life, that if you just put the effort in, and you don’t give up on your dreams, on what you care about, that you can make it, the opportunity will arise. You might be in a bad position now, but this is a temporary position, as long as you work towards that, you can achieve anything.”

The stark facts and figures of youth homelessness

According to the latest government figures, between April to June 2025, there were 172,420 dependent children living in temporary accommodation in England, 7.5% higher than a year earlier.

Reports from Centrepoint earlier this year reflected this rise, with the charity finding that more than 118,000 teens and young adults faced homelessness between April 2023 and March 2024, numbers the charity described as a “staggering” increase from previous years.

In April this year, London’s only day centre for young people facing homelessness said it was forced to turn people away due to high levels of people seeking support. With the charity seeing increased demand throughout 2024, the New Horizon Youth Centre announced on social media that it has seen “impossibly high numbers of new and returning young people in desperate need of housing support”.

In addition, reports have found that the real picture of homelessness is “hidden”, and while many people see homelessness solely as people sleeping rough on the streets, a great many more people in crisis are crashing on friend’s sofas, living in cars, or staying with family temporarily.

Paul Brocklehurst, senior manager of the Centrepoint helpline, said: “This winter, over 23,000 young people across England could be at risk of homelessness.

“Some of these young people will be sofa surfing or wandering the streets alone, with nowhere safe to go. Many of them will call the Centrepoint helpline because they don’t know where to turn or can’t access the support they’re entitled to.  

“Experiencing homelessness has a huge impact on a person’s life journey, especially at a young age. Every young person deserves to feel safe in their own home and can thrive, but the reality is that thousands will be reaching out for support this winter because they don’t have that safety or stability.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life this Christmas.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – or support online with a vendor support kit or a subscription – and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.