Two MPs visited us in Horsham and Brighton to find out more about our work supporting young people in their constituencies.
Horsham MP John Milne (Lib Dem) visited our Horsham Y Centre on February 7 in the morning and Brighton Pavilion MP Siân Berry (Green) went to our Brighton Youth Advice Centre (YAC) in the afternoon.
MP John Milne visited Horsham Y Centre
John Milne visited our supported housing to learn more about our support and some of the issues facing young people in Horsham.
He met with CEO Emily Brock, Manager David Martin, Head of Fundraising and Communications Debbie Watkins and YMCA E&W Campaigns Manager Jack Chesterton at our Horsham Y Centre.
David gave John Milne a tour of the building, including inside one of the flats for 16 to 25-year-olds. The Horsham Y Centre provides housing to 50 young people, with 32 self-contained flats and eight shared. The focus of the work is to help develop the young people’s skills and confidence so that they can move on from supported accommodation and live independently.
The group discussed the need for housing for young people in Horsham and the lack of affordable options for those who are ready to move on from supported housing.
John Milne was interested to hear that around half of the 16 to 25-year-olds living in the Horsham Y Centre were care experienced.
“Housing for young people is clearly an important issue, especially either after university, at key ages of 16 to 18 and even more so for those moving out of care,” he said.
“I understand how difficult it is even for young people who have family and support behind them but to think of those who don’t have that back-up is scary. If it was possible to fix housing and other problems for our young people at this stage, they could be sorted for the years to come.”
The discussion also included welfare benefit issues such as the lower level of Universal Credit for under 25s and the difficulties of the taper rate leading to limited incentive to work more than 16 hours per week. Young people who move into work while living in supported accommodation often experience sharp shocks to their income.
MP Siân Berry visited our Youth Advice Centre in Brighton
In the afternoon, MP Siân Berry went to our Youth Advice Centre in Brighton where she met CEO Emily Brock, Service Manager Leon Groombridge, Head of Youth Advice and Support Thomas Palser and our partners CEO of Sussex Nightstop Alison Marino, CEO of The Clock Tower Sanctuary Fabia Bates and Head of Supported Housing at Impact Initiatives Stevie Graves.
Siân was able to see the way we work closely with our partners to address the needs of young people in Brighton.
The group talked about the lack of local youth specific data on homelessness which means it’s difficult to fully understand the problem, the situation with emergency accommodation in the city and the national 136 campaign to end youth homelessness.
Service Manager Leon Groombridge said: “Meetings like this give us as the third sector a chance to outline the trends we see in the people we work with so that we can continue to provide vital support to young people in our community.”
Siân’s interest in supporting the young people in her constituency was evident and she promised to help advocate for YAC as it faces severe financial pressures to keep the service running.
