This report, funded by charities Quaker Social Action (QSA) and Commonweal Housing, follows the conclusion of Move On Up, a six-year pilot housing project between the two charities. Our findings show that unpaid carers aged 16-25 face potential homelessness unless their housing needs are urgently met in policy.
Awareness of the housing support needs of this cohort, known as young adult carers, is currently low across policy and practice. However, the risk of homelessness among young adult carers is often high and hidden, and this is likely to become more severe as the ongoing impact of the cost of living, housing and social care crises intensify.
Move On Up, a unique housing project, was designed to address the overlooked housing needs of carers aged 18-25, who face significant challenges while caring for family members in their own home. Participants in the project struggled with mental and physical exhaustion, the lack of access to education and employment opportunities, along with other pressures often faced by young people as they transition to adulthood, all of which is common among the wider young adult carer cohort.
Ashley Horsey, Chief Executive at Commonweal Housing said:
“For too long, young adult carers have been the forgotten cohort of carers, going under the policy radar and left without the state support they desperately need, despite the billions in unpaid care they provide. Multiple converging crises are leaving these young vulnerable people on the brink, and without housing support and joined-up government action, homelessness could become a genuine reality for a generation of young adult carers. We thank Nicola Aylward and Learning and Work Institute for this vital inspection of the injustices that young adult carers face and the role that government, local authorities, care and young people’s services, and housing providers must now play in ensuring that housing sits at the root of the support offer to young adult carers. A quarter of a million young people depend on it.”
