Spare rooms for homeless needed
Political Correspondent ARE you willing to open your home to a homeless person in need of help?
A charity is recruiting volunteers to offer a spare room to young people sleeping rough to help them get the support needed to keep them off the streets.
Four people in Glasgow have signed up and been vetted and trained to offer a room in the Nightstop project.
Another three have been signed up and will be receiving the training needed before they take part.
The programme is run by the Simon Community and is being launched today by Housing Minister, Kevin Stewart.
People will host a young person for a maxi- mum of three evenings over a three-week period.
At the same time they will get intensive support from agencies to try and resolve the issues that led them to become homeless.
Geraldine Feeley is one of the first volunteers to offer a room to Nightstop.
She said: “I was inspired by the ordinary people on a Channel 4 documentary who opened their homes to provide a safe place for a young person for a night.
“I hope that, in future, any young person that stays at my home will feel safe and welcome.”
The Glasgow project is the first of its kind in Scotland and has been accredited by Depaul UK, which has operated schemes in other UK cities for the last 30 years.
The aim is to allow early intervention and stop someone becoming a regular rough sleeper and get them the help they need as soon as possible.
Pauline Hannigan, head of Nightstop and Volunteering at Simon Community Scotland, said: “Often, young person become homeless through no fault of their own.
“Most young people who have come through Nightstop UK cite family or relationships breaking down as the main reason and, of these young people, over half say violence was involved.”
Simon Community Scotland has bold ambitions to extend the service and is hosting a re- cruitment event on the sixth of next month aimed at prospective volunteers.
Lorraine McGrath, chief executive of Simon Community Scotland, said: “We are only able to reach this point of launch thanks to the generosity of the people of Glasgow who have shown their support for the service by volunteering to open up their homes and hearts to young people who need them at a point of crisis.”
Mr Stewart said: “This service helps ensure more safe and warm places to stay for those young people at risk of rough sleeping. It is also a recognition that, for some people,, simply providing accommodation is not always enough.”