More warm spaces needed for young people at risk of homelessness in East Yorkshire
The charity SASH has made the plea
Last updated 19th Jan 2024
There's a plea for more warm spaces to open up for young people in East Yorkshire at risk of homelessness.
SASH is a youth homeless charity that matches people with hosts who can provide overnight accommodation. They work with young people aged between 16 - 25 who are facing homelessness.
"We need people who can offer a safe, warm place for a young person"
But Lauren Allen who is from the organisation says they need people who run community spaces to help provide somewhere safe to go in the day: "The night stop scheme, by it’s very nature is it just overnight accommodation, it's short term and emergency accommodation. It means that the young person is out during the day because the host themselves are often at work or just not able to accommodate them during daytime hours."
"So as much as we try and find things for young people to do during the day, they might have work or college themselves and they might have meetings with their housing worker, sometimes we are struggling to find somewhere for them to go in the day. That’s a particular problem in the winter months, of course."
She has this plea to find more spaces: "For people in the community, who perhaps can’t offer a spare room...if they’ve got maybe a café or a community space or whatever where they could perhaps offer a safe space for a young person to wait during the day."
"As much as we try and find things for young people to do or try and find alternative places for them to go. We’re always in need of people who can offer a safe, warm space for young person to have a cup of tea and not worry about being moved on."