An independent evaluation of youth homelessness prevention model Upstream Scotland has concluded that the initiative shows promising early indications.
Scottish youth homelessness charity Rock Trust launched Upstream Scotland over a year ago as part of a three-year pilot. The innovative programme is being independently evaluated by the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research (I-SPHERE), and the interim report highlights that prevention is a key factor to ending youth homelessness.
During its first year, the pilot programme operated in six schools across three Scottish local authorities – Edinburgh, West Lothian, and Perth & Kinross – surveying S3 and S4 students. Findings revealed that one in ten students were at risk of homelessness, closely matching the findings in Wales and England.
Nearly three-quarters of those students identified as at risk of youth homelessness were engaging in school and had not previously come to the attention of support services within the school. This indicates that Upstream is delivering on its intent to help identify children who may not be picked up by schools using more traditional indicators.