Since the start of the pandemic last year, we have also seen an increase in rough sleeping. It can be easy to gloss over facts and figures like these, but the truth is – unless we act fast – more young lives will be at risk on the streets.
Your gift could help provide basic essentials such as socks and shoes.
The Helpline could be the first port of call for a young person, with nowhere else to turn.
Our support workers often intervene
with families and local services to
prevent young people becoming
homeless in the first place.
Clove works for Centrepoint's Homelessness Prevention & Relief Service in Manchester where there is the highest number of rough sleeping deaths of any local authority in the UK.
It’s Clove's job to reach young people sleeping rough and help them begin to rebuild their lives. With time and patience, she can gradually
form a relationship with a young person and work with them to leave homelessness behind. But, she can only do so with your support.
During the last lockdown, family breakdown forced 21-year-old Abdi out of his home. He was desperate not to end up on the streets but, under local authority regulations, he was not eligible for emergency accommodation.
In some cases like Abdi’s, the team at Centrepoint’s Homelessness Prevention & Relief Service (HPRS) is able to mediate with the families and help stop homelessness before it starts.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more young people are becoming homeless as a result of tense family environments, lockdowns, and job loss in sectors like hospitality. With nowhere else to go, young people may have no choice but to sleep on the streets, where they are exposed to an array of dangers, including cold weather, gangs and drugs. With your help, we can continue our efforts to put an end to this.
In March 2021 alone, the Helpline team took 646 calls from homeless young people – an all-time high since the Helpline was set up in 2017.