Young homeless people and service provision

This paper focuses on access to services, and views of service provision am ongst young homeless people aged 14-25 years. Two hundred young homeless pe ople were interviewed in locations throughout Greater Manchester, the major ity in towns surrounding the city of Manchester. A semistructured interview schedule was used with interviews being taped and transcribed to provide a dditional qualitative data. The operational definition of homelessness incl uded not only those who were roofless,but also those residing in hostels, b ed and breakfast accommodation, or staying temporarily with friends. Topics examined include: access to services such as housing, health, advice and i nformation; appraisal of service provision; confidence in securing help; an d the use of both formal and informal support services. Results show that t he provision and use of services for young homeless people varies widely ac ross the county, with the majority of services being concentrated in the ci ty of Manchester. Respondents made good use of certain services such as str eetwork agencies, but exhibited a lack of confidence in securing help with the most basic needs, such as food. A desire to avoid being labelled as 'ho meless' appeared to make some people unwilling to make use of non-statutory agencies specifically for homeless people. Overall, respondents found part icular difficulties in accessing help from statutory services, such as hous ing and health. Findings point to the necessity of providing adequately res ourced services which reach out to young homeless people.