A collaborative approach: Tackling youth homelessness

A more collaborative approach to tackling homelessness was the key message at the recent CIH Future’s event on youth homelessness in partnership with Simon Community.

Housing professionals came together for a series of informative talks, networking opportunities and a chance to visit Simon Community’s specialist temporary accommodation centre for young people at The Malone Foyer in Belfast.

Guest speakers Gerry Skelton MBE, Treadagh House Training, Consultancy & Counselling and Declan Morris, Homelessness Prevention Forum, called on more collaboration between social services, housing associations and the Housing Executive to ‘join the dots’ when offering support to people experiencing homelessness.

As someone who works in a communications role in the housing sector, I was really struck by Mr Skelton’s emphasis on the importance of language when talking about people experiencing homelessness and the need to centralise the person as the primary concern.

Grace Price echoed this in a powerful talk about her own lived experiences of homelessness. She spoke movingly about the importance of having a voice and being treated as an individual when accessing support.

At the event, Simon Community’s head of research and development, Karen McAlister, unveiled the results of a survey on mental health and homelessness. Shockingly, it showed nearly 70 per cent of people experiencing homelessness have a diagnosed mental health condition with most diagnosed before becoming homeless.

Connell McKenna from Simon Community then spoke about the organisation’s Housing First for Youth programme, an innovative 24/7 service offering long-term wraparound support for young people.

We want to express our thanks to all our speakers and to Simon Community for partnering with CIH NI Futures on this event. This event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors, Choice Housing and Radius Housing.