BORDON residents are being urged to help East Hampshire District Council and Aldershot-based charity Step By Step find supportive lodgings for people aged 16 and 17. They are looking for householders in East Hampshire who can provide a room in their home to help a young person develop life skills, find independence and then move on to their own accommodation. Step By Step provides accommodation and development opportunities for homeless single people, and in the past 10 years it has helped more than 90 young people to find accommodation in a supportive home environment. The charity's Supportive Lodgings scheme is expanding in East Hampshire, but with more and more young people being referred to Step By Step, there is a shortage of householders to cope with demand. Norman Ashcroft, Step by Step's Supportive Lodgings project manager, explained that more and more vulnerable young people are finding themselves homeless, many through no fault of their own. He said his colleagues were involved in a constant drive to find people willing to offer a young person a room in their home. Mr Ashcroft said: "Most young people experience some difficulties when they leave home, but teenagers who have been in care or have been forced to leave home due to family problems, often find themselves struggling to cope alone. Many lack the confidence and basic skills to live independently and, without the support of a family, the experience can be traumatic. "People might think that East Hampshire doesn't have a homelessness problem. But this is not true and when a young person has no family support and has literally nowhere to go, we try and help pick up the pieces. "The number of young people seeking help from us through local councils is steadily increasing. Our Supportive Lodgings scheme aims to bridge the gap between home or being in care, and living independently in the community. We need people from all walks of life - married or single, with or without children, young or not so young." The scheme supports both the householder and young person during their stay. Householders do not need any qualifications, but are asked to attend a short, informal training programme. They are also required to provide two character references and, because many of the young people are in a vulnerable position, must agree to have police checks carried out on all adults living in the household. Depending on the size of room offered, whether food is provided and the level of support given to the young person, householders can expect to receive up to £140 per week. Mr Ashcroft added: "Young people and those offering accommodation are carefully matched for compatibility. The aim is for the young person to eventually move on to independent accommodation. Some need a lot of support, others need very little, but they all need encouragement to help them mature. The end result can be very rewarding for everyone." As well as its Supportive Lodgings scheme, Step By Step offers four stages of accommodation which provide a "structured and progressive path towards independence". These are: emergency acco-mmodation, move-on accommodation, semi-independent flats and community flats dispersed throughout the locality. As young people move on from these stages, Step By Step provides a Tenancy Support scheme to help them cope in their new surroundings. Each stage offers different levels of supervision and independence, designed to allow the young person to develop their levels of independence as they move through the projects. To complement these projects, Step by Step also runs a range of youth development and support projects, namely: a project offering young people the opportunity to develop living skills; CyberShed – a project offering young people access to the internet and IT facilities, including digital music equipment; a homelessness-prevention project, and a project providing support to young people at risk of losing accommodation due to a drug or alcohol issue. If you think you can help, or would like to know more about the scheme, contact Norman Ashcroft on 01252 313158 or e-mail him at the address [email protected]">[email protected].
