This week (7 to 13 September) is Remember A Charity Week, a national moment when charities, solicitors and professional advisers across the UK come together to talk about something most of us would rather put off: writing a will, and what we’d want it to say about the causes we care about.

At Rock Trust, we’re joining that conversation, because gifts in wills already do more for young people facing homelessness in Scotland than most people realise.

A problem bigger than the headlines suggest

Young people make up 1 in 4 of all homelessness applications in Scotland, and that number is rising. But even that figure doesn’t tell the full story. Many young people never appear in official statistics at all. Being homeless isn’t just sleeping rough: it’s sofa surfing, staying with strangers, or getting by in situations that aren’t safe, simply because you’ve got nowhere else to turn.

Relationship breakdown is the single biggest reason a young person becomes homeless, but it’s rarely the only factor. Low income, insecure work, rising living costs, poor mental health and a lack of affordable housing all play their part. Young people are doubly disadvantaged, earning less, holding fewer rights in the rental market, and often lacking the safety net that others take for granted. For care-experienced young people, LGBTQ+ young people, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people, the risks are higher still.

Scotland has strong policy and real ambition on homelessness. But ambition alone doesn’t keep a young person off the street tonight, or help them build a stable future. That takes sustained, youth-specific support, which means funding that goes beyond what statutory contracts alone can provide.

What a legacy makes possible

Housing is a human right, but housing on its own doesn’t end youth homelessness. Some of the most transformative parts of our work – mental health support, employability programmes, youth work, preventative work in schools and communities – rely on gifts and grants rather than statutory funding.

That’s what makes a gift in a will so powerful. It doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t compete with looking after the people you love . It simply means that after everything and everyone else has been provided for, you can still be part of building a Scotland where no young person falls through the cracks.

Whatever form it takes – it could be a share of an estate, a fixed sum, or even specific items – a legacy gift helps make sure we’re still here for the next young person who needs us, long after this week is over.