From underpass to underclass: How Milton Keynes became the youth homelessness capital of Britain

This new town, built to solve London’s lack of post-war housing, now faces a youth homelessness crisis unlike any other in the country. Yet it is also an economic success. What, asks Emily Goddard, has gone wrong?

Homeless teens heat up scraps in the underpass. Beyond, in this prosperous town, robotic vehicles deliver takeaway to warm middle-class homes (Photography by Alex Sturrock)

In this place,” Kane* says, “the only thing that grows quickly and properly is darkness.” The 22-year-old has been homeless for more than half a decade and is describing the “tent city” of Milton Keynes, which he likens to a jungle. Five years ago his relationship with his family broke down and he left London, where he had grown up, for the Buckinghamshire town. He had searched online to find a place where he might be able to get a bed in YMCA accommodation while he tried to get back on his feet.

Kane’s shelter today is still a tent in an underpass in the new town where, according to charity Shelter, one in every 110 people is homeless.