Homelessness - pausing for thought

On Friday night, Ros and I paid a visit to the campaign headquarters in Bradford East, to meet a group of young people who were raising funds for Bradford Nightstop by sleeping in the office.

As part of the event, they had invited Bev Johnson, one of the Nightstop organisers, to give a talk on the work that they do to get young people off of the streets and into a place of safety. It turned out to be rather more thought provoking that I might have expected.

Firstly, Bev was convinced that the best option is to enable young people to return to the family home - as long as it is safe to do so. She strongly believes that long-term exposure to the hostel system tends to lead to worse outcomes and, indeed, I see her point.

We are all aware of the lack of prospects for young people who fall into homelessness. Job opportunities are harder to come by, education is harder to pursue, and both of these things can make it so much harder for someone to go on to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Her network of volunteer hosts provide a safe, hopefully one-off, place of safety, allowing the organisation to work with the whole gamut of public and private sector groups to find the best solution for the individual concerned.

She raised a whole range of issues, large and small, which demonstrate the problems that ned to be addressed. For example, they like to provide clean underwear, something that most people take for granted, yet if you have left home with only the clothes on your back, it is something to be valued.

On the macro level, Bev noted that funding for local councils to address the issue of rough sleepers is based on the number of people found sleeping in the open. As Jeanette Sunderland, our Group Leader on Bradford Council noted, she can easily find half a dozen young people sleeping at Bradford Interchange, who are clearly homeless but don't count because they have a roof over their heads. It's another example of well-intentioned Government failing to properly address a glaring need.

I was impressed, both by Bev and by the group of young people, whose initiative in organising the event and in working with the Regional Party to gather underwear (all new) for distribution to Nightstop hosts will make a difference in the lives of a few young people when they really need it.