How the Homeless Helpline will have the power to radically reshape youth homelessness strategy

The first nationwide homeless helpline for 16 to 25-year-olds won’t just save lives, it could also radically reshape strategy in the war against youth homelessness, the man heading Centrepoint’s operation of the helpline has said.

Nick Connolly, the Centrepoint Helpline lead, told The Independent that the service, accessed via a freephone number, will “save individual lives as people call”.

It would, he said, allow callers anywhere in the country to plug into Centrepoint’s network of contacts and partner organisations all over the UK.

It would also address a situation where currently Centrepoint research suggests that up to one in three young people seeking help with homelessness are turned away unaided by English local councils, while having little or no idea of where else to turn.

Mr Connolly said the calls to the helpline would allow charities and the Government to build up a much-needed nationwide picture of where need is greatest, where the youth homelessness hotspots are, and which areas need the most help.

“This could be a game changer,” said Mr Connolly. “It will allow us to understand demand, understand need. That will allow us to inform policy to make sure there are enough beds for young people – because that is not happening at the moment.

“These young people just get lost in the system – or rather, they don’t even make it into the system.

“They have been bounced from pillar to post. They haven’t been able to get the help they need from their family, from their friends, from the local authority.”

By contrast, said Mr Connolly, the helpline will ensure that wherever they are in the country, a young person facing homelessness will be able to dial the freephone number and get through to a helpline worker who will ensure they get the local, on the ground support they need.

Such help could come from Centrepoint itself, from one of the charity’s 50-plus partnership organisations, or from fellow members of the End Youth Homelessness coalition, of which Centrepoint is the designated administrator. Helpline workers could also make direct contact with local authority housing offices for young people.

End Youth Homelessness alone comprises 11 charities, covering cities from Aberdeen to Southampton, and working with a total of more than 15,000 young people.

And the reach of Centrepoint itself, which already operates in London, Bradford, and Sunderland, has also been widened by a just-announced merger with the Manchester-based Young People’s Support Foundation (YPSF), which helps more than 1,000 homeless young people each year.

Welcoming the Manchester merger, Martin Gill, director of housing and support at Centrepoint, said: “Uniting with YPSF and drawing on the experience and local knowledge of our new colleagues will help secure the future of the most vulnerable young people in the city.”

A “groundbreaking” partnership between Centrepoint and The Mix will also ensure that callers across the UK can access the youth advisory charity’s network of experts for support on a whole host of issues connected with youth homelessness, including mental health and family breakdown.

The helpline is currently designed to handle 6,000 phone or email contacts a year, and Centrepoint is looking for volunteers to speak to callers and online users when the service expands this summer to include SMS and live web chat.

Further expansion plans, said Mr Connolly, could include local partner organisations linking in to the freephone number, so that calls from within their area are routed directly to them.

Ben Wardlaw, who was helped by Centrepoint after becoming homeless as a teenager, said the helpline was an idea that would “undoubtedly” save lives.

“It’s as simple as dialling 11 digits,” he said. “If you can dial that number, you can get through to someone who can understand your needs, the availability of support, and the bureaucracy.

“And that’s a huge deal.”