Housing Education: Crucial to preventing homelessness

Around 100 teachers, youth workers and other housing professionals will gather in Edinburgh on Wednesday to discuss the role that housing education can play in preventing homelessness.

Housing Education aims to improve the knowledge of young people about the challenges they will face whenever they leave home. Giving them the information they need can help them make a smoother transition to independent living and avoid the pitfall of housing crisis or homelessness.

Many schools now recognise the role that housing education can play and are devoting curriculum time to it. Conference delegates will hear about some of the latest developments and new ideas in this area. The conference will also see the launch of an on-line national database of housing education resources which includes lesson plans for teachers and youth workers.

Conference organiser Kelly Lawless comments:

"Leaving home is a difficult time in any young person’s life. There are many challenges such as securing housing benefit, finding a deposit or navigating the Council housing waiting list. When things go wrong, young people may end up with housing debt or facing homelessness.

We can help avoid this by ensuring young people have the skills and knowledge to make realistic choices about when and how they leave home."

Matt Elton, Head of SCSH Youth Unit adds:

"It’s amazing, when you go into schools, how little young people know about council tax, rent and where to go for advice."

Young home-leaver Chris (17) comments:

"No-one ever tells you how hard it’s going to be living on your own. If someone had warned me I’d never have left so soon."