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Feb 2024

Last Updated: 15/02/2024

Charity seeks hosts to provide beds for homeless young people

by John Grainger

| 15 Feb, 2024

The story is sponsored by SASH

A Yorkshire charity is looking for people within the Harrogate area to help young people facing homelessness by offering them a safe place to stay at a time of need.

Safe and Sound Homes (SASH), offers an emergency accommodation scheme, Nightstop for 16-25 year olds at a time of crisis and longer-term and Supported Lodgings accommodation within the homes of its network of hosts. Hosts are people with a spare room and an open mind.

The young people, who are referred to SASH by local authorities and PNC (Police National Computer) checked to ensure they’re safe to place, may need emergency accommodation for just a couple of nights or a more stable arrangement for up to two years.

One such host is Gill Lawrence, who has provided Supported Lodgings at her home in Harrogate for 11 young people over the last five years. She said:

“I currently host a 17-year-old unaccompanied asylum-seeker, and he’s a really nice young

man.

“One has just left after two years – that’s the longest I’ve ever hosted anyone – and I miss him now he’s gone. He left on the Sunday and on the Monday I was approached by SASH for a matching meeting for another possible placement , which just goes to show how desperately SASH needs hosts.

“While they’re here, this is their home. They have a key and can come and go, but they’ve got to be in by a certain time.”

Gill decided to do something to help young homeless people after a revelatory moment while watching a police documentary on TV. She said:

“There was a young lad of 17 who had been sleeping on a bench for a few nights following a row with his parents. The police told him he couldn’t sleep there, so he asked where he could sleep, and he looked straight down the camera lens and said ‘Nobody cares’.

“So I looked up people who did care, found SASH, and gave them a call to see if I could help. That was five years ago.”

When she told her family and friends of her plan to house homeless youngsters, many of them were sceptical. Gill said:

“Everybody thought I was bonkers. They said I was stupid. They said I’d be robbed, my house would be trashed, and that I’d regret it. But none of that has happened.

““There’s a perception that young homeless people are all violent, troublesome young people, but they’re not. Circumstances have just gone wrong for them. Some of them do have troubled backgrounds, but they’re different here – they're respectful.

“Family breakdown is the thing they all have in common, triggered by all sorts of different things. It’s really sad.

“At first, they’re often very much on their guard and super-anxious. That’s why I like them to stay for a while – so they relax and start to realise that it’s OK to be scared, to be vulnerable and to express emotions. A lot of them doubt themselves, lack confidence, and blame themselves for their situation. But in 99.99% of cases, it’s not their fault.

“It’s really important that they start to feel they’re in control. Often, they’ve never had any control over anything.”

Gill says she offers a welcoming home, but it is accompanied by a SASH house agreement which set boundaries – for example, it doesn’t allow any alcohol, or smoking in the house. She said:

“One young lad struggled to be in by a certain time. I told him he needed to abide by the rules, and said, ‘I’m sorry for nagging’, but he said, ‘No, I like it – it shows you care’.”

That degree of engagement in the life of someone who may have a troubled background can be challenging, but Gill says it’s all worth it. She said:

“If it doesn’t affect you emotionally, then you shouldn’t really be doing it. I won’t lie – when I started doing this, I thought it’d be like having a lodger. But it’s much more than that – and I’m glad that it is.

“There are times when it’s taxing and frustrating, but that all gets put aside when they leave you – warm, fed and happy – having grown as a person.

“Doing this gives the young people stability and somewhere safe to sleep, and I like to see them grow and achieve their full potential. Three of them have gone to university, one into nursing, and I’m still in touch with four of them.

“If anyone’s thinking of hosting with SASH, I’d say just do it. Don’t let people put you off.

"If I’d listened to my family and friends, I’d never have done it. But I’m very happy that I did, because it’s hugely rewarding.”

Find out more:

All hosts receive a payment of £20 per night for offering Nightstop accommodation and up to £170 per week for Supported Lodgings. Full training is provided and support from SASH is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

To find out more about hosting with SASH visit www.sash-uk.org.uk/hosting