‘You just need someone there’ – opening Bristol’s only emergency youth shelter

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the advent of Covid-19 in the UK, the past 12 months have been dominated by social isolation, health scares, and harrowing experiences of lost jobs and tenancies.

The pandemic is a multiplier of inequalities, and few are experiencing the pressure more acutely than Bristol’s population of young people experiencing homelessness, which has risen sharply under Covid-19.

Caring in Bristol is a local homelessness charity working to support young people experiencing homelessness. Last year they supported 120 young people, and in Spring of this year they are searching for a three, four. or five-bedroom property to use as the city’s only dedicated shelter for people ages 18 – 25 to prevent them from having to spend a night on the streets.

People like T, who has been supported by the youth team at local homelessness charity Caring in Bristol in their journey towards independence:

Amazingly, despite the urgency and severity of the problem of youth homelessness in our city, no dedicated shelter for young people currently exists.

Sarah Walker, who is the charity’s Operations Manager and oversees its Youth Services says of the need for a dedicated shelter:

‘When young people are pushed into homelessness they often have no options beyond spending the nights on the streets, sofa-surfing, or accessing services designed for adults – all of which are dangerous in their own way.’

Caring in Bristol’s youth shelter is both an immediate response to the crisis of youth homelessness, and a place where its guests will receive thorough support to help them in securing long-term housing, stability, and opportunities that they have been denied.

Shanta Foley, who is a practitioner on Caring in Bristol’s youth team working directly with young people experiencing homelessness explains:

‘It’s essential that our Youth Shelter provides more than just a bed and a hot meal for the people we work with. They all have so much potential and show such strength in the face of adversity, and by providing them with wraparound care we can help them to lead more fulfilled and independent lives and get on with studying and working.’

Caring in Bristol are keen to emphasise the benefits for landlords too. The shelter will be staffed at all times by trained staff and volunteers, and the charity will be the building’s legal tenant, meaning that it will cover all of the rent and maintenance of the property.

Ultimately, asked what benefits such a shelter could have on Bristol’s population of young people experiencing homelessness, T says:

Do you have a three, four or five-bedroom property available and want to make a powerful difference to young Bristolians’ lives? Email [email protected]

You can follow Caring in Bristol’s progress on their youth shelter and other work at www.caringinbristol.co.uk   

All Bristol Nightstop photos by Khali Ackford

Quattrostagioni photo by Quattrostagioni on Flickr