London young rough sleepers pathway

New Horizon Youth Centre supports thousands of young Londoners facing homelessness because of family breakdown, domestic abuse, poverty, experiences of violence, or war and persecution in their home country. By January 2021 one in ten people sleeping rough on the streets of London was under the age of 25, including a 140% increase in young women and increases among the most unsupported demographics. Over their 54 years of operation they have shown that youth homelessness is a different experience that needs a different response and that young people sleeping rough are often overlooked. During Covid-19, along with partner organisations, they developed a package of services for young rough sleepers, including campaigning, fundraising and content creation. This work resulted in a commitment to ringfence a portion of the Mayor’s rough sleeping budget for under-25s, a city-backed winter fundraising drive and the opening of a ground-breaking youth-specific emergency hostel. This work will save and transform the lives of young Londoners in crisis. This is the first stage of the end-to-end rough sleeping pathway they’re creating for young Londoners. For as long as young people are facing homelessness in London, New Horizon will be on a mission to give their potential a home.