As the countdown continues to the long-awaited Wednesday (October 30) budgeta movement is developing. A movement to end an injustice that has left many people homeless youth stuck in a world where finding a job prevents them from affording the basics.

Over the past decade, Britain has slowly moved towards universal credit. One by one, old social security benefits, like unemployment benefit and the working tax credit, were consolidated into this single, colossal section. However, a few hundred thousand people continue to migrate to the new system and continue to benefit from housing assistance. This includes those who benefit from supported accommodation – such as traditional “hostel” services run by organizations like Central point. And the rules did not follow reality.

The situation is serious. People living in supported accommodation find themselves worse off financially when their working hours exceed a minimum threshold. So, for example, someone living in supported accommodation may work part-time and, because of their excellent work, be offered more hours. However, if they took this opportunity, they would end up with less money overall. In fact, in some cases, they could earn more simply by not working. This can’t be true. Society is generally favorable to decreasing benefit rates; that as you earn more, your Social Security benefits are reduced by the same amount, so it is more beneficial to have a job rather than to unemployed.

However, there is an incredibly cruel quirk in the current system where people in supported accommodation, stuck on the inherited housing allowanceare seeing this vital financial support decline at a faster rate than their wages are increasing. Worse still, if they lived in the private rented sector, they would benefit from Universal Credit – and get a fairer deal. This is particularly damaging for young people trying to escape homelessness. They may be just beginning to dream of a life far from instability and danger, only to be held back by a system that seems to have forgotten them. These are young people who, against all odds, are ready to start their careers, but have no choice but to say no to opportunities for advancement and higher pay. If their salaries were to increase, their housing benefits would decrease so quickly that they simply wouldn’t have enough money to pay basic expenses.

This is clearly extremely unfair, and Centrepoint is not alone in thinking so. More than 140 organizations in the #PlanForThe136k group, such as the YMCA, DePaul, New Horizon Youth Center and the National Housing Federation, have written to the chancellor urging her to right this wrong.

This week the financial sector joined the rallying cry with Nationwide Building Society, Coventry Building Society and the Co-operative Bank to press the Treasury to remove barriers that prevent homeless youth from entering and excelling in the job market. Hundreds of campaigners have written to their MP and thousands added their names to an open letter written by Aimee, a young woman who has spent time in supported accommodation and describes the current system as having a “devastating” effect, which could so easily be fixed. And Aimée is right. Homeless youth have already faced immense challenges entering the workforce, and we are setting them up to fail.