Ask your MP to help maintain housing benefit for young people with no place to call home

Dear Editor,

Please ask your MP to help maintain housing benefit for young people with no place to call home.

Re: Please stop young people from being cut out and shut out by changes to housing support for 18-21 years olds.

St Mungos has campaigned for many years to support homeless people. As a St Mungos supporter I am seriously alarmed by the government's plans to stop automatic entitlement to housing benefits for 18-21 year olds.

The government wants to stop young people's automatic entitlement to benefit payments to cover their housing costs, even though this might be all that is stands between them and sleeping on the streets.

Interested Rochdale Online readers can read a more detailed briefing produced by St Mungos Broadway and other homelessness charities at:

http://www.mungosbroadway.org.uk/documents/6402/6402.pdf

I do understand the government wants to stop unemployed young people from claiming housing benefits when they don’t need to, but some young people simply cannot live at home with their parents. For example, because of domestic violence or relationship breakdown.

Removing access to support for housing costs would leave many vulnerable young people without any means to pay for safe accommodation or vital support. Many will be forced to resort to insecure or unsafe housing situations including rough sleeping.

Please help to ensure that young lives are not ruined by changes to housing support. If young people are to find jobs and become financially independent, they need somewhere safe and affordable to live.

Homelessness hurts.

If you agree, please ask your Member of Parliament to act and tell the Prime Minister and the Work & Pensions Secretary to keep housing support for young people who need it to help pay for somewhere safe to live. This can be done in a matter of minutes at:

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1902&ea.campaign.id=38717

Thank you.

Yours,

Andrew Wastling