Youth Homelessness Charity Struggles To Cope With Growing Demand

Nightstop provides safe overnight accommodation for young people but, as demand for beds soar by 300%, the charity is forced to turn away twice as many vulnerable people as before. In London, the need for Nightstop hosts has never been more urgent. Eighteen months ago, Depaul, the charity which runs Nightstop, was turning away two young people a day. In the last sixth months, that’s increased to four. Apart from two emergency hostels which are always full, there is nowhere other than the streets for young homeless people to go. It’s not just London, there’s a frightening lack of emergency accommodation for young people across the UK, and demand for the service has increased by 300% in just 12 months.  Nightstop currently only operates in 25% of the country. Read more on the Guardian website.

Charity Launches Spare Rooms Campaign

A charity is calling on UK households with spare rooms to offer them to homeless young people.  Depaul UK’s spare room campaign is targeting 7.5 million households who have a spare room, urging them to join its Nightstop initiative.  This currently places 16- to 25-year-olds with around 700 volunteer hosts who have been approved by the charity. Depaul wants to double the number of spare rooms it has available by 2015, to meet surging demand. Read more on the Depaul website.