We are currently part of a coalition of over 100 youth organizations taking part in the The New Horizon Youth Centre’s (NHYC) campaign called #PlanForThe136k.
The campaign is centred around the harrowing fact that 136,000 young people aged 16-25 approached their council for help with homelessness in 2021-2022. What’s even more chilling is that many frontline services have reported that only half of those they work with have contacted the council before, so the true scale could be double. With Covid, and the cost-of-living crisis, the problem is only getting worse.
Often the services that act as a safety net are overwhelmed and often overlooked when it comes to decision making. NHYC have seen young people face the same barriers time and time again. They are often invisible to authorities and services. They are often not seen as a priority need, or believed. They don’t know what support is available. They can’t evidence their homelessness. There is a lack of supply of suitable, affordable housing for young people. This is only to name a few.
Every single one of these young people are having to live with the fear that they may not have a roof over their heads, have enough to eat, or be able to keep warm and safe over winter. Many are navigating between hostels and friends’ sofas. The negative impact on the health, education and employment prospects of these young people without a home are extreme. We can all agree that young people deserve to grow up knowing there are people looking out for them and that they still have the chance to achieve their dreams.
Ending youth homelessness is entirely possible, we just need a #PlanForThe136k. We are all pieces of the same puzzle, so homelessness hurts each and every one of us. If we all come together, we have the power to help so many young people, and we absolutely should. It is our collective responsibility to take action.
We are therefore asking people to sign a petition calling for a national plan to end youth homelessness. It takes merely 2 minutes to sign, and could change 136,000 lives.
So far the campaign has:
- Taken over billboards and screens spanning the entire UK, from Brighton to Edinburgh.
- Created a campaign video, which shows two tik tokkers competing to get signatures for the petition
- Had coverage in the Observer, another piece in the Big Issue, Radio 4 and 24 articles in regional papers.
- Had ads in the Daily Telegraph, iNews, The Times & the Guardian
- Received public support from over 20 celebs so far, including Kano, Jon Snow, Gail Porter, Chloe Madeley & Paloma Faith.
The petition has already nearly hit the 10,000 signatures needed for an official government response. If we can reach 100,000 the issue will be debated in the House of Commons.
Young homeless people can’t sign this petition because they don’t have an address, but you can.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/642986
