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If you are a teenager living in the United Kingdom and are threatened with homelessness whether it be because of parents asking you to leave or you can no longer stay at home due to abuse this guide will help you.

The first thing you should do when threatened with homelessness in the UK is contact your local council and inform them that you are being forced to leave. They will aid you with sorting out some form of accomodation. You could end up lixing in a bed and breakfast, a hostel or some supervised accomodation for teenagers and youths.

Bed and Breakfasts

Bed and breakfasts can be very nice temporary accomodation to live in as some provide breakfast in the morning and a lot tend to be well maintained. If you are given temporary accomodation in a Bed and Breakfast always make sure that you are on your very best behaviour and keep your room as clean as possible. Bed and breakfast owners do not like unruly dwellers.

Hostels and Supervised Accomodations

Hostels in the United Kingdom can be the worst temporary accomodation to live in. There can be drug users and people from all kinds of backgrounds living in the same building and some can be violent criminals. I am not trying to scare you about staying in this type of accomodation but from my own experience and what I have heard, these places can be nasty. If you are placed in this kind of accomodation be on your best behaviour. I would personally stay very alert if I live in one of these and keep myself to myself. Of course there will be nice hostels out there that are regulated and have nice people too but it is always best to be cautious and alert when you are living on your own.


What to take with you

Make sure to leave with all of your identification documents like birth certificates, bank statements and other documents that can be used as ID. These will come in handy when applying for benefits when needed.

Bring enough clothing when given accomodation so that you have something to change into at least every 3 days. This will give you time to wash your clothes and get them clean.

When living in temporary accomodation you may find yourself bored. Take something that you can do in your spare time like books if you enjoy reading or paper and pens if you are a creative teen and enjoy writing poetry.

If you have a mobile phone, make sure to bring this so your family can contact you as well as any firms associated with you like the council.


What about food?

Your council should be able to provide you with some food until you have successfully claimed Job Seekers Allowance, they only have this duty to you until you reach the age of 18 years old. After then, they do not need to help you find accomodation or help you with food.

Bring some of your own foods if you can but remember there may not be a fridge or freezer that you can use where you are staying.

If you ever run out of food contact the council and they should be able to forward you to another agency that deals with teens/youths when homeless and without food. They will provide you will some food although it may not be to your liking.


How can I apply for Jobseekers Allowance?

In order to claim Jobseekers allowance you need to be over the age of 16 and living in the United Kingdom. You will need to visit your local Jobcentre Plus and ask about starting a claim for Jobseekers Allowance.

A claim can take up to a month to process after which you will start receiving payments via either a girocheque or directly into your bank account. If you dont already have a bank account this would be a good time to make one as you will find it easier getting your benefits.


Theyre making me get a job!

As you are claiming Job Seekers allowance you will sign a declaration stating that you will actively look for work. When living at your temporary accomodation you are still expected to find a job and work.


When will I leave this place?

Your council during the time you are living in temporary accomodation will have asked for you to fill in some housing application forms and will have placed you on a waiting list and in most cases assigned you some points. Being homeless and young will already gain you some points and on their priority waiting lists. You should not be in temporary accomodation for any longer than 1 year. A good thing to do is to keep on the backs of the council by ringing them every week or so asking about your position and where you stand for being rehoused.

Being homeless as a teenager is not the best of situations but sometimes when things arent working out at home it is a good thing. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and have benefitted from it too.

Thank you for reading and I wish you success in being rehoused.

Whats the legal age for being able to leave home? Because if your not over it your more than likely gonna be made to go home or else into care weither your being abused/kicked out or not. Good adive though.. Just wondering about that...

I am not sure about the legal age but what I do know is that when you are over the age of 16 but under the age of 18 your local council has to provide you with some form of temporary accomodation. After the age of 18 I know they will NOT provide any help other than placing you on their waiting lists, they have no duty to you after that. You can get a hostel when over the age of 18 but you need to arrange this yourself.

I would think you need to be over the age of 16 to leave home without being put into care. The council will also want some form of proof like a letter from your parents if you have said they have forced you to leave or are threatening you with kicking you out on a specific date.

I am not 100% sure about their duty to you if you have made yourself homeless by leaving home off your own back above the age of 16 but under 18.

18 usually.
However you can become emancipated.
That requires a process or you could get married early or join the military.
However once you get emancipated, your parents no longer have the legal responsibility of looking after you.
If you are not emancipated then I believe it's considered illegal for them to kick you out.

There is a book about a guy who stayed in a homeless shelter and he went out and got a job and within a few months he had a place of his own.
He told no one about his degree though. This was an experiment he did.
Basically he said that all you have to do is make a few sacrifices and you can succeed.
So he didn't spend money on living accommodations, since he was at a shelter.
He saved up money and got a place of his own and was able to pay for things afterward.

In the UK it definitely is not 18 to leave home. Until the age of 16 your parents are responsible for you and in circumstances where they can not be, you are placed in care, over the age of 16 the council have a duty to give you temporary accomodationn if you are threatened with homelessness or are actually homeless until the age of 18 and after that they hold no responsibility to help you.

It must be different in the USA.

16? That's kind of young.

Yeah it's different here.

I dont think it is young at all because what if your parents throw you out before the age of 18? Does that mean if youre 16 or 17 then you shouldnt be accomodated or because youre legally under your parents responsibility?

Why do people get emancipated? It sounds rather odd that anyone would want to be legally free of their parents, im sure it happened to Bart in the Simpsons at some point where he turned against his parents and was legally no longer tied to them.

I was 16 when I left home, in fact I was 16 when I moved cities away from my family. It is not too young. Age has nothing to do with it, it is how mature you are and if you are capable of looking after yourself.

So 16 in the UK where your parents don't have a responsibility for you and you can become more independent is not too young really. Especially if it is legal for you to smoke at that age or it might of change to 18 now but at one point it was 16.

What I was getting at is that most 16 year olds are not that mature.
Hell, I'm 16 and I'm not anywhere near mature.
I never said that... If you get kicked out before 18 then you could always go to a homeless shelter. Or you could emancipated and that gives you the ability to get jobs that typically adults would have (like factories and mail room jobs).
Run-away's who's parents don't bother to look for them can also be emancipated.

Oh, for a number of reasons.
Maybe they don't wanna be taken care of anymore and their parents don't wanna take care of them anymore.
It depends on the situation though... Perhaps one wants to get married before 18, in which case the parents give consent however from the point of marriage, they are on their own (well, with a husband/wife but still..)
Or maybe someone under 18 wants to join the military - you can get emancipated then too.

The reasons vary person to person.

Hey Michael! I think I will post a thread like this but for US teens Cause it can't be for only the UK haha.