It’s World Homelessness Day next Wednesday. To mark the occasion and highlight the plight of young people forced to sleep on the streets, Lib Dem peers Alison Suttie and Olly Grender will be sleeping out overnight. They are raising money for De Paul, a charity which helps young people who are affected by homelessness.
Already they have raised more than £1000 for De Paul. On their Just Giving page, they explain why they are doing this:
This will be our third year of sleeping out just once a year for this charity. Depaul UK is a fantastic youth homelessness charity providing housing and support to 16-25 year olds who do not have a safe place to sleep.
According to government figures, the number of young people sleeping rough in England increased by 28 per cent, between 2016 and 2017. No young person should find themselves sleeping on the streets.
Depaul UK believe that every young person deserves a home and a stake in their community, which is why they work tirelessly to provide the stability and support young people need to progress beyond homelessness.
In 2017, they supported 3,763 young people empowering them to lead better, more independent lives.
This year, to raise vital funds for the emergency and preventative services they provide nationally, Alison and I will team up again and will be sleeping out at the Kia Oval on Wednesday 10th October. That evening before the sleep out we will hear from Depaul staff about the great work they’ve been doing. We will then buy some cardboard from Depaul and bed down for the night.
We will be cold, we will be uncomfortable, we will be getting a really bad night’s sleep but we will be together in supporting young people who face homelessness in the UK and we will be trying to understand a little better what they are going through.
Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it pounds or pence all gratefully received!
If you can, please support Olly and Alison by donating here.
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2 Comments
It’s good to see Olly and Alison doing their bit.
It’s just a pity that homeless people are particularly badly affected by the delays and the system that is built into Universal Credit – all of which was introduced with Liberal Democrat support in both houses of Parliament in 2013
I want to congratulate Olly & Allison for what they are doing to highlight homelessness. My world imploded in 2015. Redundancy, Homelessness for 18 months, my 13-year relationship with 9 years Civil Partnership was dissolved. Arrest whilst sofa surfing. I host life-changing long-term health issues. both physical and mental. 2 cancer scares, ( just had my third scare last month. Chronic Pain, Depression with suicidal ideations. Actually the first night I slept on the streets of Camden was the day I was diagnosed HIV+ & Hepatitis C +. My year ended with me in a mental health crisis hostel for a month. The most frustrating thing was the Mental Health service cover two boroughs. Camden ( where I had been a council tax payer for nearly 20 years.) As the smaller hostel in Belsize Park only had 6 beds and was full, so I was put in the Highbury Grove Crisis Hostel. As this was in Islington Camden Council housing department said as I have left the borough, I was no longer able to have housing points. and closed down my registration. This leads me to threaten the Housing Officer, saying I would bite him ( giving him HIV and Hep C). I would then kill myself, naming him in my suicide note. At this point, two huge bouncers escorted me out of the Council Office. The good thing about all of this was that the mental health crisis team jumped into action and first a month in the crisis hostel. then 9 months in a homeless hostel in Limehouse, With all of this going on I was amazed by the number and type of people who were having to sleep rough. Anybody can be one paycheck away from homelessness. Well, I am slowly rebuilding my life one day at a time. So thank you, Olly & Alison, for highlighting this horrendous issue of homelessness both old & young.