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.

Needs Of Young Homeless Must Be Recognised

A charity is calling on strategic health bodies to ensure there are joined up services for young homeless people that recognise their complex needs.

Youth homelessness charity Depaul UK and biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca have published guidance to improve the health of young homeless people. It is addressed to health and wellbeing boards, which take up statutory functions to improve health services in local communities this month.  The guidance says the boards have an important role in ensuring services for young homeless people are integrated, ‘in particular joining up areas such as social care, transport, leisure planning and housing’.  Download a copy of the report from the Depaul UK 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.

New Research Highlights Health Needs of Young Homeless People

MPs are pledging to help improve the health outcomes of young homeless people with the launch of a new report into young homeless people’s health needs and experiences of health care services.  The report ‘Making It Matter: Improving the Health of Young Homeless People’ by AstraZeneca, in partnership with Depaul UK, the largest national youth homelessness charity.  A wide-ranging comparative review amongst over 380 homeless and non-homeless young people, the research shows that young homeless people experience significantly poorer health than their peers, are more likely to use emergency health services and face considerable barriers in accessing the care they need.  Download a copy of the report from the Depaul website.