Coutts Woman

Helping the young homeless

Having hopefully survived the Christmas period, homeless people across the UK are now gearing up for another tough few months as the blisteringly cold winter moves into spring.

Those who were lucky enough to find shelter over the festive season will most likely be forced to find new temporary accommodation as care organisations begin yet another year of looking after the ever-growing number of vulnerable people living homeless in this country.

As yet, there is no exact number for homeless people living in the UK.  But research reveals that 45 per cent of these people have experienced violence in the family home on more than one occasion.  And one in three have attempted suicide. 

Shocked? Cathy Corcoran isn’t. Corcoran is director of the Cardinal Hume Centre, a centre set up by Cardinal Basel Hume in Westminster, London, in 1986 to help young homeless people and families in the area.

Today, after some recent expansion work (which has extended their reach in the area by 30 per cent), the centre (a converted convent) has 40 employees, 17 volunteers, and runs several services under its one roof. 

There is a 32-bed hostel for 16-21 year olds, a smaller hostel for people recovering from substance abuse, a family centre which offers support services to local, badly housed families, and a drop-in centre with education, training and employment facilities for people.

Limited availability

According to the Cardinal Hume Centre, housing and hostel resources available to the homeless is decreasing all the time, making it hard for them to find a place to sleep.

For those lucky enough to find temporary accommodation at the Cardinal Hume Centre, there is 24-hour support services available and a mentor assigned to each person, giving one-to-one support and to helping them with their living skills.  Mentors also outline the education and training opportunities available to them at the Centre.

Corcoran explains: “At the hostel, we’re all about pushing these young people to learn skills to help better their lives.  A lot of them haven’t had a chance of formal education – it goes with the territory.  So, we think about helping them with that. 

“We try to help people right across society - young people, families and immigrants, doing whatever we can to increase these people’s chances of a better job or life.  And asking them what they need instead of assuming on our part”

“We are a friendly but challenging support.  Although we don’t provide food, we encourage them to cook in our fully equipped kitchens and help them to shop on a budget, buy reasonably healthy food.  It’s not about staying in bed all day, but about wanting to move on and wanting an education.  Some people are ready for that after three months, others we hold back for the maximum 12-month stay if they are still vulnerable.”

For those who aren’t lucky enough to gain a place in the Centre’s hostel, there is an emergency service available to young people under 25 which includes the facility to shower and wash their clothes.  Apart from that however, it’s a waiting game for vacancies. 

“We spend a lot of time asking people if there’s anyone they can stay with for a couple of nights, while we check the numbers and vacancies every day,” explains Fiona Russell, drop-in service manager at the Centre.  “Beyond that, we give them advice about how to stay safe on the streets.  It is very difficult.”

Refugees and asylum seekers face the largest risks due to funding requirements becoming more strict every year.  “Some hostels have to have people from their local area referred to them.  So people from outside the area, refugees for example who have no connections to anywhere, can find it very difficult,” she confirms.

“It’s frustrating,” adds Sonia Thomas, non-residential services development manager at the Centre.  “Some of their stories have shell shocked us.  And, sometimes, what we can do for them is quite limited.”

The other services provided at the Centre have been growing since the early 1990s.  The family centre has an area where pre-school children can play – something not always possible in the temporary or inadequate housing assigned to a family.  Parents can also access the Centre’s drop-in education and training services along with many others, undertaking cooking, English language or IT classes. 

“We try to help people right across society - young people, families and immigrants,” says Corcoran, “doing whatever we can to increase these people’s chances of a better job or life.  And asking them what they need instead of assuming on our part.”

Looking to 2007, Corcoran’s principal objective is for the Centre to become even more effective at doing what they do.  “And we need to make sure we raise enough income to ensure we keep pushing the boundaries and looking to introduce new services that will help us transform even more people’s lives.” 

To find out more about the Cardinal Hume Centre, or to make a donation, click onto www.cardinalhumecentre.org.uk or call 020 7222 1602. 

One hostel resident’s story…

This girl was only 17 years old when she travelled as an asylum seeker from Ethiopia to the UK.  She was an orthodox Christian who had been persecuted for her religion and imprisoned with her family previously.  On arriving in the UK, the girl approached the Cardinal Hume Centre who offered her a bed in a shared room at the hostel.

She refused the offer, insisting that she could only sleep alone.  Surely sharing was preferable to no roof over her head at all, they asked?  She disagreed and chose instead to visit church after church each night until a room became available at the hostel.

After four days, the Centre was finally able to fast track her into her own room.  And she told them her story.  While sharing a room in prison in Ethiopia, the guards would throw acid on her head and legs at night. 

Lifting her weave to reveal one large scar covering her head, she told them: “That’s why I can’t share a room.  Because I cannot sleep with anyone else there.”