New guidance on helping vulnerable young people

The move comes as a major survey of disadvantaged young people - launched this week under the banner of the Real Deal - brought calls for the government to introduce new support packages to address their homelessness problems.

New guidance to the Housing Act 1996 - a draft of which is out for consultation until next week - will establish a protocol between housing and social services staff on how they bring the provisions in the Housing Act and the Children Act together to deal with homeless young people.

The draft guidance states that homeless 16 and 17-year-olds are at risk of "abuse or prostitution" on the streets and authorities should normally class them as vulnerable.

Centrepoint policy and research manager Cathy Havell said this would help "close the loophole" which currently left thousands of young people abandoned by the system.

The Local Government Association welcomed the guidance but warned the government must consider changes to statute to deliver necessary joint planning between housing, social services and other agencies.

The government has also commissioned a new audit to establish the numbers of young homeless people. The most recent figure gave a "conservative estimate" of 150,000 to 200,000, said Havell.

Meanwhile an 18-month survey by Centrepoint, think-tank Demos and several other charities, called for new support packages including guidance, more "floating support" to help homeless young people live independently, and access to specialist hostels if needed.

Centrepoint said it was ready to put the packages in place if the government gave the go-ahead.

• A further Demos report launched under the Real Deal umbrella revealed that 624,000 young people have been "missed" by the government's flagship New Deal programme.

Havell said there were "real concerns that the programme hasn't been designed well enough to pick up the most vulnerable young people".