£1 million National Lottery boost to help 2000 more care leavers build independent lives and influence change
Posted 27th February 2026
The National House Project (NHP) have been awarded £1 million over five years from The National Lottery Community Fund, to expand its proven programme supporting young people, aged 16-25, leaving care to find secure housing and develop their skills and confidence to live connected and fulfilling lives.
Since launching in 2018, more than 680 care-experienced young people from the House Project community have moved into their own homes, with no evictions or tenancy breakdowns. 10,000 young people leave care in England every year and about a third of these young people become homeless within two years, through no fault of their own. NHP exists to eliminate this risk of homelessness and ensure young people leave care well. To date, more than 1,100 young people have participated in the House Project Programme (HPP).
The funding will support plans to create five new Local House Projects each year, expanding the community from 23 to 48 local authorities over the next five years in England, Scotland and Wales.
NHPs proven approach, is built around a strengths-based, psychologically informed framework co-designed with care leavers themselves.
As more young people are now successfully living independently in their own homes this new funding will strengthen long-term support, helping care leavers build lasting community connections, access opportunities and continue to thrive beyond their first tenancy.
This enhanced approach, for those living in their own home, will be piloted with selected Local House Projects, then rolled out nationally and shared across the sector. This includes continuing to ensure the Care Leavers National Movement (CLNM) brings care experienced young people’s voices into development, delivery and evaluation of the project – which has always been core to their approach.
Through this funding, NHP will:
- Help more care leavers move into and sustain secure homes.
- Ensure young people’s lived experience shapes local and national services.
- Amplify care experienced voices within local authorities.
- Challenge negative narratives and champion young people’s strengths and leadership qualities.
This comes from The UK Fund, one of The National Lottery Community Fund’s first significant commitments as part of its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, funding projects that support children and young people to thrive – one of the funder’s four key missions.
This work would not be possible without National Lottery players. Their support is helping young people leaving care to be heard, valued and empowered to shape their futures and their communities.
Contact: Mark Warr, CEO on 01270 21588, mark@thehouseproject.org
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Notes to Editors
About The National Lottery Community Fund
We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.
We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.
We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.
As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:
- Come together
- Be environmentally sustainable
- Help children and young people thrive
- Enable people to live healthier lives.
Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4bn of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £49 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.
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