Homeless charity launch app to monitor "sofa surfing"
The true number of young homeless people in the North East could be higher than predicted.
The true number of young homeless people in the North East could be higher than predicted.
That's because of things like 'sofa surfing' - which means many young people in the region don’t realise they are classed as homeless, because they are not sleeping rough.
People like 20 year old Ashley Harrison, who was helped by Depaul in Whitley Bay.
She told Metro Radio at just 17, she found herself without a home;
“You see a lot of homeless people in Newcastle, just on the streets and they’re stereotyped for the way they look, because they are sitting there begging. Whereas If I walked down Northumberland street, no one would think that I was ever homeless.
When I was sofa surfing, I never thought I was homeless, because I still had a roof over my head.
I know that a lot of people these days would think someone that was staying with friends isn’t homeless because they’ve got a roof and meals but you have not got somewhere you can call your own home and it’s not a permanent place.”
The charity Centre Point is now developing the Youth Homelessness Databank - which tracks and monitors people like Ashley, who move from place to place.
The Google funded two-year project is building two key digital tools – a database and an app.
It will collate, measure and display youth homelessness data from multiple sources to give a better idea of why and how young people become homeless.
The App for web or mobile app being co-designed will be for users to share stories and monitor those who use the centre point service.
Something Ashley supports the idea of , she says: “ If you’ve got somewhere that people can download an app, just to share their story, it will also kind of get other people aware that it can happen to anyone. A family break-down or something, It’s not the ‘normal’ reasons that everyone thinks and it can happen to anyone.”
You can find out more about Centre Point’s database HERE -