Give your spare rooms to homeless, says minister

Homeowners will be encouraged to offer their spare rooms to young homeless people under new government plans.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper today unveiled the plan to use the YMCA and Centrepoint to set up a nationwide network of "supported lodgings" for those whose parents can't or won't accommodate them.

Individuals and families will offer a single room for a set period while the charities provide other support, giving the young people time to find a flat or to patch up problems with their parents.

Ms Cooper also announced she was setting up a committee of formerly homeless young people to advise ministers directly on what more might be done to help.

Some £16 million will be made available to charities to combat the problem. More than a third of newly homeless people in London last year - around 7,500 - were aged under 25, Ms Cooper revealed.

More than a quarter of people newly homeless in the capital had been forced to leave home because parents were no longer willing to accommodate them.

Another plan is to set up a new National Homelessness Advice Service with Shelter and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Speaking at Centrepoint in central London, Ms Cooper was set to say today: "This new partnership with the voluntary sector will help young people move away from the damaging cycle of homelessness."