On Mon 26 Jun Nicola from Herts Young Homeless and David Lane, Chair of Open Door St Albans joined Soroptimist International St Albans and District on Zoom for an enlightening and moving evening. Nicola talked about Homelessness facing young people across Hertfordshire and David told us about the direct action Open Door is taking to ensure no-one needs to sleep rough in St Albans. Some of the things we learned were happening on our door steps are deeply shocking.
Nicola MacKinnon (Fundraiser) from Herts Young Homeless please click here to download and view Nicola’s presentation HYH – NMK basic presentation June 23 It contains a wealth of information so please take a few minutes to read.
Nicola started by asking us to think about what the word ‘home’ means to us. She gives presentations at schools and said that children give similar answers to us – family love, people, pets, belongings, safety – not just a building. She explained some of the daily struggles some young people experience; where will they sleep tonight, where will they wash, where will they get food, how will they clean their clothes. All of these become priorities making education and work extremely difficult. 70% of young people & families have reported either a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health need which has a massive impact on support services.
She shared the importance of mediation in preventing homelessness. If an issue within a family can be resolved this can prevent a young person from becoming homeless. In over 80% of cases mediation is successful. Mediation only costs £30 per session and 6 sessions may be enough to prevent someone ever being homeless. 89% of the young people supported by HYH have stayed in the family home.
There are growing issues with young people coming into their service needing access to mental health services 
and the increased risks of gang involvement and exploitation. The cost of living is also rising, and this is impacting on HYH both in terms of the numbers of young people needing help and fundraising.
She explained some of the costs a young person may face living independently in Hertfordshire. Rents can be over £1000 a month in some places, food costs, utilities, phone costs, etc. Most young people will not make enough money to cover the essentials so extras such as clothes, haircuts, gifts are impossible.
Nicola showed us a new video from HYH – please click here to view (it is 3.5 mins long) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVkTvLXD5IM
Nicola shared one of the projects HYH has running in the county, Future Roots. This is supported housing for up to 5 young people with a full-time support worker living in house Monday to Friday. The idea is for young people to stay for 12-18 months and then move on.
The service needs around £300 a day to run at its current level. The charity always appreciates fundraising and needs more volunteers. People can also support the charity by following them on social media, liking posts, commenting and sharing posts. Events they have coming up in St Albans we could join in with are “The Great Big Walk” on 30 Sep and the Quiz night at Loreto College on 12 Oct.
David Lane (Chair of Trustees) – Open Door
David shared a video showing some of the work the charity does – click here to view (it lasts 6.5 mins). https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOA9ltcwbk97hn1Sc9kVEMw
Open Door’s main work is from its night shelter on Bricket Road in St Albans. It also does outreach work, speaking directly to people who are begging or sleeping rough in St Albans. In 2009 they converted the rooms from dormitories to 12 en-suite rooms for use at night. They allocate each person staying at the shelter a link-worker to support them accessing services they need. They also have cleaning and laundry facilities that people can access and provide a hot meal. Most of the food comes from food banks and is prepared by volunteers.
David talked about how some funding is used to purchase things like low-cost mobile phones and furniture. They also provide grants to people and a counselling service. They have other projects that do outreach work from the night shelter such as Druglink and the Maltings surgery.
They have a winter beds project that operates between November and March each year and this provides 16 additional bed spaces over the colder months. These are bunk spaces with a shower, toilet, sink, small fridge and kettle. David shared that an alarming number of people accessing these services are in full time employment. Last year 50% were in full time work.
David and Nicola answered questions from members at the meeting
Q. What advice would they give to someone seeing someone begging on the street?
David advised against giving money. He advised people use the Streetlink app to report a rough sleeper. This will be picked up by one of the charities working in the area and they can follow up and support that person.
Q. Re: the day’s news about Prince William’s project launched on the same day in support for the homeless.
Nicola and David said The spotlight on the issue will certainly help – will need to wait and see the plans. If you can prevent youth homelessness then that really helps in the long term #fingerscrossed (the hashtag used in Prince William’s news release). Councils are desperate for more social housing – rents are not affordable, the situation is untenable.
Jean gave a sincere vote of thanks from the club to both speakers and said how easy it us for us not to realise what is happening on our own doorstep. The club will continue to collect donations and will transfer monies to the charities shortly.
Soroptimist International aims to help women and girls achieve their potential and realise their aspirations. Life for many is getting tougher. Without a safe and permanent place to call home, living in unfit and unstable temporary accommodation, or at risk of homelessness, many young people struggle to achieve that potential, and the impact on their lives can be devastating. With costs continuing to rise, family budgets are being stretched to breaking point. Growing economic pressure impacts on mental health; family breakdown, addiction and homelessness can become inevitable.
Herts Young Homeless provide specialist services www.hyh.org.uk
– prevention through education about leaving home, independent living, managing relationships and conflict and
– crisis intervention and
– support for living independently.
More than half of those they help are women.
Open Door St Albans opendoorstalbans.org
Since 1993 Open Door, has supported over 7,000 people who have experienced homelessness and been at risk of sleeping rough.
Provides funds for the Open Door Night Shelter
Funds a local outreach worker
Runs the Winter Beds Project
There was no charge for the event but if you would like to make a donation, any monies will be shared by these two deserving charities. Please understand there is no pressure to donate, the event is about educating ourselves about the issues and raising our awareness so that we can take action. If you wish to make a bank transfer please email sistalbans@hotmail.com and we will send you the details.
If you have any queries please Contact Us.