Meghan Roach, director of operations at New Horizon Youth Centre, explained to the Big Issue that the charity saw increasing demand throughout 2024. In January, it became “unprecedented”.
“Even though we’ve grown our staff team slightly, we still have the same physical space that we’ve always had, and the staff team is still fairly light in terms of how many young people we can process,” Roach said.
“We need to make sure that we can support everyone adequately, and with the length of time it can take people to support, we just couldn’t keep up with that level of demand. It’s a lot harder now to move people on into long term accommodation. It takes a lot longer than previously. There are not as many options out there.”
Roach has worked at New Horizon Youth Centre for seven years, during which they have never had to stop supporting people, except briefly during the pandemic while arranging to see people remotely.
“It’s difficult, because there are still new people presenting who are rough sleeping or in unsafe situations. We have to balance that with whether we can safely support everyone that’s already registered with us,” Roach added.
“We want to help as many people as possible make sure we can deliver a quality service to them, but we can’t be the only service for young people in London.”
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New Horizon Youth Centre helps thousands of young Londoners every year, supporting them to secure long or short term accommodation, providing them with life skills and helping them access health support.
One client, Daniel, said: “When I first arrived at NHYC, I didn’t have a job, a place to stay, or even a clear goal to pursue. However, everything started to change when I stepped into the centre. They helped me turn my life around in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
“They found me a place to stay, supported me with everything I needed, and even helped me secure a job. With their guidance, I also enrolled in college and began working towards my education while holding down a full-time job to keep myself busy and productive.”
Roach said that clients often describe their services as “critical”.
“Pretty much anyone that’s under the age of 25 who finds themselves rough sleeping or unstably housed or at risk for any reason will often end up at our door,” she explained.
“They often say either it’s because they’ve been turned away from other services or their local authority, or they haven’t been able to navigate the system. We’re one of the last places they might try. What we offer them is vital in terms of providing emergency accommodation, advocacy, support and advice.”
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New Horizon Youth Centre has consistently campaigned for the government to invest in a long-term strategy to end homelessness which centres young people in its plans.
Roach said: “We can respond to the need as we see it, but there’s got to be greater investment in prevention, so that not everybody needs to end up at a day centre – so that the intervention happens sooner to prevent homelessness.”
New Horizon Youth Centre will be updating its website and social media with any updates to its services. If you are 18-24 and homeless or unsafe in London, visit its ‘Get Help’ page for a list of other services you can approach for support until we can accept new young people again.
Find out how to donate and support New Horizon Youth Centre here.
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