Housing charity for young homeless nets Lottery cash

8:04am Wednesday 13th February 2013 in Local

A CHARITY for young homeless people — which had reached crisis point last month — has been handed a huge lottery grant to keep people off the streets.

Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme (BYPHS) has received £277,288 from the Big Lottery for a new project The scheme, Project Front Door, involves supported tenancies for young people who have struggled to hold down a stable home.

BYPHS has identified eight former sheltered accommodation flats for the elderly in Pentland Terrace in Halliwell and plans to transform the properties.

The project is aimed at young people who are not considered to be able to manage their own front door so staff will control entry to the building 24 hours a day.

Maura Jackson, director at Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme, said: “This is a group of people who have been going from service to service for a long time, we knowmost of them by name.

“The problem is that when you’re young and you get a flat of your own, you get lonely and you might invite a friend around.

“Soon that friend is bringing friends, and before you know it your flat is full of people. As the tenant you’re responsible for the behaviour of your guests so if there’s trouble and you’re evicted, you’re classed as being intentionally homeless and you can’t access homeless services again for 12 months.”

Just last month, bosses from the charity said they had been forced to turn young homeless people away because it could not cope with the rise in demand.

Ms Jackson said a lack of jobs and education opportunities has led to the biggest spike in young homelessness she has seen in two years.

She added: “With Project Front Door they’ll live with 24-hour support.

“We’ll make sure they’re in a routine, tell them when to get upand go to bed,when to attendappointments, give them advice on personal hygiene and drugs.”

The charity put the initial bid in last April and made a full application last August.

The project has funding for three years and will see up to 15 young people a year spending between six and nine months with the scheme.

Comments (7)

9:56am Wed 13 Feb 13

UK Lotto News says...

Congratulations to the Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme - really pleasing to see how lottery money can have such an immediate and direct impact on people's lives, from everyone at http://www.uk-lotto.
com
Congratulations to the Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme - really pleasing to see how lottery money can have such an immediate and direct impact on people's lives, from everyone at http://www.uk-lotto. com UK Lotto News

11:41am Wed 13 Feb 13

boltonnut says...

Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.
Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie. boltonnut

12:10pm Wed 13 Feb 13

Hough64 says...

boltonnut wrote:
Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.
you really are a bitter and twisted old man arent you? How very sad :-(
[quote][p][bold]boltonnut[/bold] wrote: Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.[/p][/quote]you really are a bitter and twisted old man arent you? How very sad :-( Hough64

12:53pm Wed 13 Feb 13

Jaffa'smum says...

I rarely give in to the temptation to respond to people who clearly need our pity as they are uneducated and bigots. However I must defend the work of this charity and others like it. Young people do not choose to be homeless, they do not choose to be unemployed or in the care system. They are forced to survive because other people, usually adults (parents), reject them or abandon them or and find them tiresome.

The money used to fund the service does not mean the young homeless are mollycoddled. It is to help them to find work and education opportunities but you must bear in mind they are competing with people who are older, with work and life experience and qualifications they have not got yet. The money employs staff to help them to live alone because their families no longer want them or because they need help and can no longer live at home. These are young people with amazing talent and skills to survive. We are talking about 16 and 17 year olds rough sleeping.
What worries me is that people still hold such views about the homeless or young people which are similar to those extreme historic views on race or gender which people have fought hard to challenge over centuries.

Fortunately these views are a minority and the majority of people, especially locally in Bolton, are wonderfully supportive to this charity.
Boltonnut offers no stats to support the comments made and I think that cold hearted comes nowhere close to being an accurate description. Factually incorrect for starters; these and other schemes like them are not free board and lodgings. If you have ever tried job searching whilst rough sleeping Boltonnut maybe you can tell us how successful that was?
I rarely give in to the temptation to respond to people who clearly need our pity as they are uneducated and bigots. However I must defend the work of this charity and others like it. Young people do not choose to be homeless, they do not choose to be unemployed or in the care system. They are forced to survive because other people, usually adults (parents), reject them or abandon them or and find them tiresome. The money used to fund the service does not mean the young homeless are mollycoddled. It is to help them to find work and education opportunities but you must bear in mind they are competing with people who are older, with work and life experience and qualifications they have not got yet. The money employs staff to help them to live alone because their families no longer want them or because they need help and can no longer live at home. These are young people with amazing talent and skills to survive. We are talking about 16 and 17 year olds rough sleeping. What worries me is that people still hold such views about the homeless or young people which are similar to those extreme historic views on race or gender which people have fought hard to challenge over centuries. Fortunately these views are a minority and the majority of people, especially locally in Bolton, are wonderfully supportive to this charity. Boltonnut offers no stats to support the comments made and I think that cold hearted comes nowhere close to being an accurate description. Factually incorrect for starters; these and other schemes like them are not free board and lodgings. If you have ever tried job searching whilst rough sleeping Boltonnut maybe you can tell us how successful that was? Jaffa'smum

1:38pm Wed 13 Feb 13

big barbara says...

boltonnut wrote:
Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.
Cold hearted is too nice a label for you Boltonnut.
You are so out of touch. Not all young people become homeless because of their own doing / behaviour. Do you Bolton nut think that the 16 year old female who was removed from her home for her own safety over the christmas period and was unfortunate enough to find herself waking up in an overninght hostel on christmas morning should be on the street pounding the pavement looking for a job? Do you think attending college was her priority that week when only days before her life had been turned upside down because an adult crossed the line.
Boltontnut you know nothing about homelessness and should keep your comments to yourself as they are offensive to homeless people who tare trying their best to turn their lives around. Go and pick on someone else and leave the homeless alone.
[quote][p][bold]boltonnut[/bold] wrote: Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.[/p][/quote]Cold hearted is too nice a label for you Boltonnut. You are so out of touch. Not all young people become homeless because of their own doing / behaviour. Do you Bolton nut think that the 16 year old female who was removed from her home for her own safety over the christmas period and was unfortunate enough to find herself waking up in an overninght hostel on christmas morning should be on the street pounding the pavement looking for a job? Do you think attending college was her priority that week when only days before her life had been turned upside down because an adult crossed the line. Boltontnut you know nothing about homelessness and should keep your comments to yourself as they are offensive to homeless people who tare trying their best to turn their lives around. Go and pick on someone else and leave the homeless alone. big barbara

1:43pm Wed 13 Feb 13

Jaffa'smum says...

Well said BIg Barbara!!
Well said BIg Barbara!! Jaffa'smum

6:55pm Wed 13 Feb 13

Bob Shaftoe says...

boltonnut wrote:
Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.
There but for the grace of God .........
eh Boltonnob
[quote][p][bold]boltonnut[/bold] wrote: Another hand out to keep the homeless off the streets,the homeless SHOULD be on the street,pounding the pavement looking for jobs instead of being mollycoddled.Free board and lodgings becomes a way of life and gives no incentive to fend for yourself.Call me cold hearted but the stats.do not lie.[/p][/quote]There but for the grace of God ......... eh Boltonnob Bob Shaftoe

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