In contrast, many of the young people in difficulty, having left home in a
crisis, generally lacked an advocate to speak on their behalf with any of the
housing providers. For some, this gap was filled by the voluntary sector.
Voluntary organizations played an important role in brokering access to housing
services for young people in difficulty (and also for care leavers who had lost
contact with their leaving care service). Many such young people received help
from personal advisors or key workers in these types of organizations with filling
in forms for applications to housing providers. Voluntary organizations were also,
in some cases, able to make direct referrals to housing projects on behalf of
young people.
Participants were asked what type of accommodation they were placed in,
either after first leaving care or after leaving home in the case of the young
people in difficulty (Table two). In this study, first accommodation for care leavers
was often living with other people, including relatives (especially birth parents) or
friends (together accounting for 35 per cent of the study’s care leavers), or they
were living in flats or rooms within housing projects (33 per cent of care leavers).
Housing projects offer supported housing for care leavers, and are often used by
leaving care teams as ‘trainer flats’ to provide a gradual introduction to living
independently, before moving on to a more permanent social tenancy, for
example, in a local authority or housing association property (Wade, 2003).
Participants were also asked where they were living at the time of the
interview. Care leavers were more likely than other young people in difficulty, to
be living in ‘supported’ lodgings within bed and breakfast accommodation or flats
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