QSA highlights homelessness risk
'There is a ‘high and often hidden risk’ of homelessness for young adult carers, unless their housing needs are urgently met with new policies.'
More than 250,000 young adult carers require urgent government support, Quaker Social Action (QSA) has said.
QSA also called for more housing support for young unpaid carers, who face ‘severe pressures and miss out on crucial opportunities while caring for loved ones’.
The warnings came during Carers Week 2023, when a new report funded by QSA and Commonweal Housing said that there is a ‘high and often hidden risk’ of homelessness for young adult carers, unless their housing needs are urgently met with new policies.
The ‘We Still Care’ report by the Learning and Work Institute said that the risk is likely to become more severe as the ongoing impact of the cost of living, housing and social care crises intensifies. The young adult unpaid carers face negative impacts in housing, education, employment and wellbeing, said the report, which makes a number of recommendations. These include the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) committing to review vulnerability legislation in housing law, to recognise the risk of homelessness and precarious housing that this group faces.
There are over 272,000 young adult carers, providing £3.5 billion of unpaid care per year, according to the 2021 census. But experts suggest this number is significantly lower than the reality, as young people might not recognise themselves as carers or be reluctant to disclose.
QSA has also released a webinar exploring what rights people have when arranging a funeral, and how to report funeral directors who don’t comply with the law.
The talk – available on Vimeo and featuring Lindesay Mace and Sophie Clarke from QSA’s ‘Down to Earth’ team – is part of QSA’s work highlighting funeral poverty and the lack of price transparency in the industry.
Last month QSA launched a campaign asking people to take photos of the front of funeral directors’ premises which do not display a Standardised Price List as required by law. Contributors do not need to take pictures of themselves in front of the premises, as a news story in the Friend (2 June) incorrectly said, but just the front of premises.
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