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Nottingham Nightstop provides safe, supported emergency accommodation to young people aged 16-25 who are at the point of becoming homeless. The goal of the project is to prevent vulnerable young people from entering a downward spiral of homelessness, by ensuring they are not sleeping on the streets or in adult homeless hostels, where they will be exposed to drugs and violence, before permanent accommodation solutions can be found.
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Nottingham Nightstop is an initiative to prevent youth homelessness, born out of the desire to ensure that all young people have access to safe and secure accommodation appropriate to their needs. The Nightstop concept is simple: it provides safe emergency overnight accommodation in the homes of trained volunteer host families, to young people aged 16-25 who are at the point of becoming homeless, on a night at a time basis until more permanent and appropriate accommodation can be found. Young people access the scheme after being referred by a youth or homelessness agency in and around the city. The scheme offers the young person a safe place to stay, a listening ear and ‘breathing space' to work through their options. In doing so, Nottingham Nightstop provides a safety net at a moment of great vulnerability. Nottingham Nightstop volunteers are ordinary people who are willing to open the door of their home for a few nights a month to help young people in need, or who offer their time to help Nightstop in other ways. About half of young people referred to Nightstop schemes are under 18. The length of a stay is typically three or four nights on a night at a time basis. The project is now developing a young person's befriending and mentoring scheme, developed with the help of our service users, to run alongside the accommodation service. The scheme will provide committed trusted adult figures to support homeless young people, whose normal support networks have failed, through their transition into healthy independence.