Youth homelessness charity, Depaul UK has launched an appeal today after revealing that demand for its emergency accommodation service, Nightstop, has surged by more than half* (55 percent) compared to the same time last year.
Nightstop provides crucial support to young people in crisis and trained and vetted volunteer hosts offer them a safe place to sleep, a warm welcome, a hot meal, and access to washing facilities.
The charity’s appeal is hoping to address the increasingly high numbers of young people left without a safe place to live or bed to sleep in.
Last year alone, 136,000 young people aged 16-25 reported themselves as homeless to their local authority. However, the actual number of young people experiencing homelessness is expected to be far higher.*
Alexia Murphy, CEO of Depaul UK said:
“This winter, we’re seeing an alarming increase in the numbers of young people with nowhere safe to live and we suspect the huge rise in referrals to our emergency accommodation service is because local authorities can no longer afford to pay for vital support services or offer more permanent accommodation. Many of the young people we see are returning to us, meaning they have used Nightstop before.
“Every night across the UK hundreds of vulnerable young people have nowhere to go and are left without the basic comforts of a bed, safety, and warmth. Our services, including Nightstop, which offers emergency accommodation to help prevent a young person from sleeping rough, are being stretched to their limit. We urgently need support to meet the rising demand, because no young person should face homelessness.”
In support of the appeal, Sir Trevor McDonald, President, Depaul UK said:
“Our trained Nightstop volunteers offer a spare room to people in need, so they don’t sleep rough. Let’s not turn our backs on these young people in need. Together, we can offer them hope and help them get a safe place to sleep.”
Alex Szorad is a Housing Advisor for Depaul UK. His team works on the frontline and he says no two days are the same, adding: “Over the last few months, we’ve seen people scared of gang crime, someone suffering from domestic abuse, refugees who have been made homeless because of inadequate support, and university students with no recourse to benefits, or young people who have fled home because of a family relationship breakdown”
Nightstop connects young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with volunteer hosts who have a spare room. They kindly open their homes to provide a safe alternative to sleeping on the streets.
Although these incredible hosts give their homes and care for free, the charity helps fund costs for food, fuel, clothing, training and vetting volunteers, and providing ongoing support from their expert teams of staff across the UK. Depaul UK is appealing to anyone who can help to donate now to give young people at risk of homelessness a safe place to sleep this winter and the support they need to move on to a brighter future.
Find out how you can support here.
