Birmingham has seen a 140% rise in the number of homeless cases since January 2010 according to youth charity YMCA.

 

In 2008 Birmingham City Council claimed there was only four rough sleepers in the city. This was obviously not true but much of the work even then to keep the homeless off the streets was done by groups like St Basil's and not the council.
Recent figures reveal more than one in ten of the 723 homeless applications lodged in the city in July were from 16 and 17-year-olds.

Alan Fraser, CEO of Birmingham YMCA told BBC WM that they are seeing a higher demand on their services and the situation is getting worse.
"A lot of effort has been made over the last 10 - 15 years to see rough sleeping in the city reduced and it's been successful. However in the last couple of years we've seen the situation go backwards with an increase in rough sleepers and people in temporary accommodation."
Youth unemployment crisis
Birmingham has some of the highest UK figures in youth unemployment.
Mr Fraser commented: "There is a real crisis with young people and youth unemployment, people can't get jobs and so can't access affordable accommodation in the private sector."