Nightstop DevonNewsletter Spring 2011

As the days get lighter and as spring arrives, NightstopDevon continues to be busy helping accommodate 16-25year olds when they find themselves in a homelesssituation.

As Devon braces itself for big government budget cuts,we are seeking to find other ways to keep our veryspecial project going. We are therefore launching our2011 fundraising initiative, Nightstop Devon Big JumpOut 2011.

If you have ever wanted to do a parachute jump here isyour chance. Nightstop Devon are looking for 100adventurous volunteers to make a fundraising parachutejump and if you raise enough in sponsorship you will getto jump for free!

There are three types of jump available – an ‘AcceleratedFreeFall’ where you can experience the thrill ofskydiving, solo from up to 12,000 feet, a ‘TandemSkydive’ from 10,000 feet attached to a professional

instructor and a ‘Static Line’ jump which is performedsolo from up to 3,000 feet - and you can jump from anyone of over twenty British Parachute Associationapproved airfields across the UK.

No experience is necessary as all training is given and ifyou raise from £395 (depending on the type of jump youchoose) you will receive your jump for free. All that weask for it s photo of you in all your gear for a giant photomontage. For an info pack and more information contactKt on: 01392 274853.

Raise at least £395

Pick a date in 2011

And a location near you

And JUMP!

Jump for Nightstop!

Inside this issue...

- Volunteer Updates Pg.2

- Crashpad Pg.3

- Homelessness Facts Pg.4

- Photo Focus Pg.6

- Mental Health article Pg.7

- Corporate Sponsorship Pg.8

The Figures for the last

year....

2

- Received a total of 671

referrals

- Offered 544 Nightstop pl

acements

- Provided 385 bed-nights

- 171 young people accesse

d the service.

(127 males, 44 females)

- 40 16-17 year olds refer

red to the

service

- 57% of young people refe

rred were

homeless due to family bre

akdown

- Enabled over 35 young pe

ople to return

home to their families

- Supported over 100 young

people to

secure more permanent acco

mmodation.

Hellos and goodbyes...We welcome Sandra, from Exmouth; Gail, from Newton Abbot; Penny & Tony from Christow and Deborah & Mervyn fromWhiddon Down, who are our newest Nightstop Hosts. Sandra also offers accommodation for young people needingCrashpad, and has already taken in a couple of young people on this longer term placement scheme.

The Nightstop ‘out of hour’ provision during the hours of 6:00pm and 9:00pm has now closed. Cuts in other services havehad an effect on young people being referred to Nightstop during the evening and regrettably we say goodbye to PiaNeumann and James Kilkelly, Telephone Contact volunteers, who although experienced a very quiet role, their help inplacing several young people during the evening was a very significant task.

Volunteers are such a vital part of the Nightstop service and we try and make sure they feel valued and supportedthroughout their involvement with us. Training programs are always offered to volunteers and some of the more recenttraining offered has been Diversity, Self Harming in young people, First Aid, Drug & Alcohol and Safeguarding. We organisetwo social events a year, one at Christmas and a Summer BBQ, and we try and arrange at least one visit a year to Amberand other supported accommodation agencies so our volunteers can see where some of the young people move on to.

If you would like to get involved with Nightstop as a volunteer do please call us and talk it through, you can find us on theCommunity Housing Aid website www.communityha.org.uk

Volunteer Updates...

3

4

Nationally

…

·  A total of

165,200 pe

ople were

prevented

from homel

essness du

ring

2009/10

·  There  is 

estimated 

to  be1,247

rough sle

epers at

any one ti

me

nationally

.

·  It is esti

mated that

 there are

350,000 pe

ople natio

nally who

can be

defined as

hidden ho

meless bec

ause they

are living

in overcr

owded

households

or stayin

g in a hou

sehold whe

re there i

s dissatis

faction

with the a

rrangement

and are a

t risk of

eviction

In Devon…

·  The  overal

l  trend  in

  the numbe

r  of homel

essness  ac

ceptances 

is

downward i

n Devon. I

n 2007/08

there were

525 accep

tances, in

2008/09

there were

385 and i

n 2009/10

there were

279.

·  The  Suppor

ting Peopl

e  programm

e  provides

  accommoda

tion based

  and

floating s

upport ser

vices to

vulnerable

people. A

ltogether

1,697

people fro

m the soci

al inclusi

on and rec

overy grou

ps accesse

d these

services d

uring 2009

/10

733 young

homeless p

eople aged

between 1

6 and 25 a

ccessed

Supporting

People se

rvices dur

ing 2009/1

0 of which

192 were

aged

16 to 18.

1,020peopl

e were act

ually home

less or we

re due to

become hom

eless

within 28

days (incl

uding roug

h sleepers

)

·  The popul

ation  of  rough

  sleepers 

in  Devon  durin

g  2009/10  is

estimated

to be abou

t 336 people

, most of

whom spent

a very sh

ort

time on th

e streets

and others

who are e

ntrenched.

The effect

iveness of

preventio

n services

mean that

...

·  The homele

ssness pre

vention wo

rk of the 

housing au

thorities 

in Devon

shows that

during 20

09/10 they

saved a n

et amount

of £5.9m as a

result of

homelessne

ss prevent

ion work.

·  In  addition  the  homel

essness  preve

ntion  work 

relating  to  young

people is

estimated

to have sa

ved CYPS £1.7m

for 2009/

10.

The data a

bove has b

een taken

from The H

omelessnes

s JSNA doc

ument. Thi

s

was manage

d by a Dev

on Housing

Options P

artnership

steering

group.

November 2

010

Homelessne

ss facts

Exhibition: Hard TimesPhotographer: Paul Wenham Clarke

When: open until the 30th June.Where: St Martins-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.

Paul has photographed a series of Big Issue vendors in their “homes” – be they squats, hostels, caravans or nothingmore than the street. In The Hard Times exhibition the portraits depict the personal lives of Big Issue vendors who aretrying to cope through the worst recession in decades and who often feel ostracized by society. Six of the images werethe category winners in The AoP’s Photographers Awards 2010 in the Documentary Series category and also won a

coveted AoP Gold Award. The photographs aim to capture both the vendors and the places in which they live.

5Photo Focus

Hard Times

By Paul Wenham Clarke

6

Young people within our society face many challenges and the pressures to achieve ineducation and conform to what is expected in the UK culture can be stressful. For manyyoung people they have a good support network and are able to deal with this transitioninto adulthood without major difficulty. For others though the process can becomplicated, they might not have support or a secure base to rely on and this couldleave them in a vulnerable situation, like being homeless, “86% of young homeless areforced to leave home rather than by choice”. There are around 75,000 homeless youngpeople in the UK (rowntree foundation)

The issue of homelessness has more than just the obvious problems; people who arehomeless are eight times more likely to suffer from a mental health disorder. For manypeople this mental health illness can be the reason they end up homeless, for some youngpeople it could be the effects of another person’s mental illness that has put them inthis position.

The relationship between homelessness and mental health is that they are oftenconnected; there can be a cycle that causes people with mental health problems to be atrisk of becoming homeless. The nature of mental illness can mean that dealing witheveryday situations like holding down a tenancy can be extremely difficult.

The most common mental health illness that can affect the homeless population isdepression and anxiety. Around 5% of teenagers are significantly depressed; a commonfactor for the result of this depression can be coming from a broken home. The homelesspopulation are also at a higher risk of having personality disorders and also substancemisuse problems. These types of illnesses leave people often feeling lost and alone,this then leaves them vulnerable to suicidal thoughts and self harm.

The teenage population is at a higher risk to having emotional and behavioural problems;these types of issues can cause relationships between families to break down, leavinga young person homeless. The result of being homeless can then put a young person atfurther risk of their emotional problems becoming a mental illness. Housing is extremelyimportant to a person’s mental wellbeing;"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safeplace where we can go as we are and not be questioned”. Maya Angelou

A person with mental health illness is twice as likely to be unhappy with their housingand four times more likely to say it is a contruting factor towards their mental healthillness. (mind.org)

For us to improve the mental health of the homeless population it is vital that theservices for providing housing are improved. This includes the support in findingaccommodation and also the ongoing support to ensure that people are managing theirtenancies and keeping the property maintained. By aiming for an improvement in servicesyoung people especially will have a better opportunity for a more positive future.

Written by Amber Gowan,Social Work student,Plymouth University.

Image By Paul Wenham Clarke

Mental Health and young people...

7Nightstop Devon are very excited to announce that as of April 2011, we have managed to team up with our firstcorporate sponsor, a Teignmouth based company called Rentshield Direct:

www.rentshielddirect.com

RENTSHIELD Direct is one of the nation’s largest tenant referencing agencies, completing in excess of 60,000 tenantsuitability assessments per year, for letting agents and private landlords alike. They also specialise in bespokeinsurance policies to cover all eventualities.

In the first of two fundraising initiatives on behalf of Nightstop Devon, Rentshield are launching THE BIG ONE, aconcept thought of by Rentshield,whereby a donation of 1p per tenant assessment they complete is donated toNightstop which will provide them with much required funds to ensure that their invaluable work continues. This isthe first of many exciting collarorations with the company, and looks set to be a great working relationship.

Gary Abraham, Managing Director at Rentshield says “We firmly believe that everyone has the right to return homeafter a hard day’s work to a warm, cosy, welcoming environment. We are lucky enough to be dealing with individualsthat thankfully already have this privilege, so we are very much looking forward to supporting Nightstop and workingto eradicate homelessness in our area and the prejudice associated with it”

Then on the 22nd July, Rentshield are braving the great outdoors and organising a sponsored sleepout, with theirparent company, Barbon Insurance, matching whatever they raise! With 75% of staff already involved, it is set tobe an exciting night. The Sleep Out will take place from 8pm until 8am on Friday 22nd July 2011 at HazeldownPrimary School, Teignmouth.

Kt Banwell, Project Worker at Nightstop says ”The Nightstop concept is such a simple one, and the work of ourvolunteers is utterly priceless. They see beyond the stigmas of homelessness and welcome young people into theirhomes, when many have rejected them. In the current financial climate and with us bracing the proposedgovernment cuts to the housing sector, community support is vital to keep our very special project going. I am reallyexcited about collaborating with Rentshield, and joining forces to help homeless young people in Devon.”

Corporate Sponsorship

Registered Charity No. 1071945Limited Company No. 3635743

A project of:

Affiliated to:

Supported by:

And lastly a Big thanks to thefollowing people for their kinddonations:

East Devon DCMid Devon DCTeignbridge DCNLCB N/StopEvelyn May TrustMicheal BarnesDevon Community FoundationHeathcoat Trust FundM HardwareSt Marks Parochial ChurchM RobertsS L & C E J ParkerBBC Children in NeedNat West BankOttery St Mary Parochial ChurchSeaton PCCBeatrice Laing TrustCrashpad L PriceM AdamsRentshield DirectKeepMoat Foundation

Nightstop DevonMcCoys Arcade

Fore StExeter

EX4 3ANwww.communityha.org.uk

T: 01392 274 853

We are pleased to announce that we now have a Bmycharityonline donation page, that makes online donating easier thanever before. It can be found through our website:

www.communityha.org.uk/donate

Or directly:

www.bmycharity.com/communityhousingaid

Please feel free to spread the word to anyone wishing tofundraise for us, be it running 10k, shaving your head, orhaving a cake sale. Every donation counts and goes such along way in keeping our very special project going.