We might only be a couple of hours into our work day, but St Christopher’s colleagues have been very animated today, discussing the anti-homeless studs that have hit the news over the last few days. Mainly because we are all passionate about achieving the best outcomes for our young people and this includes working with homeless young people in our 16+ services.
The problems
What has really struck colleagues at St Christopher’s is that studs will not prevent or solve the problem, they will just move it. Out of sight, out of mind comes to mind.
But that’s the problem, homelessness is not going away! A Homeless Link report states that in 2011 3,673 people were seen sleeping rough in the capital this was 201 more than the previous year.
According to End Youth Homelessness, a campaign that we support, more than 80,000 young people under 25 are experiencing homelessness in the UK. Their aim is to get these young people off the streets and into a home and a job.
Our solutions
There are many reasons why a young person can face being homeless and one of these reasons is family breakdown. In Enfield, North London, we provide a runaways project that offers free mediation, advice and support services to young people at the risk of homelessness. We will work with these families to help them work through their problems.
We also offer 16+ accommodation and support services across London where we work with care-leavers and young people facing homelessness to get them back into education, employment and training. Working with care-leavers is an important area, research by Homeless Link suggesting that 25% of young people that benefit from services like ours are care-leavers.
What do you think?
Now we want to hand it over to you do you know what services are available to tackle homelessness where you live?
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