New premises crucial for Youth Housing Project

VULNERABLE young homeless people could be put at risk unless the National Children's Home Guernsey Youth Housing Project can find a new home soon. It has applied to the Island Development Committee for change-of-use permission to allow it to move into a property at 1, St James Street, St Peter Port. 'The absence of suitable property from which to assess the needs of service users and to offer emergency accommodation is increasingly reducing the effectiveness of the service currently offered by NCH and is potentially putting vulnerable young people at risk,' said project manager Shane de Carteret. 'There is an increasing demand for the service and the possibility of providing a base for NCH and emergency accommodation within a single building for a reasonable rent is too good to miss. I am sure that the IDC will look on our present application sympathetically.' For the NCH's work to progress, it is essential that appropriate premises are secured. Mr de Carteret said he wanted more staff to cope with demand and continue the development of the service. 'Over the last year, 169 individuals in various levels of crisis or accommodation difficulty visited the project. These service users generated over 2,500 contacts, which equates to a vast amount of work,' he said. 'We have the budget to recruit. We have already received a lot of interest from potential employees but we physically do not have room to incorporate them.' Longer-term, he said, the work needed with clients could not be properly performed with appropriate levels of confidentiality and respect in the cramped conditions currently available. Mr de Carteret said that NCH had provided help to 4.2% of the island's 16-18 population. Most clients were outside the Children Board's remit and below the age threshold for St Julian's House. 'The solution is not as simple as requiring that these agencies adjust their thresholds. Many of these young people will reject attention offered by social services, seeing themselves as being too old,' he said. 'For St Julian's to lower its age limit would be unworkable. Attempting to mix vulnerable homeless young people with mature homeless people will always present a management nightmare, ending in a compromise that potentially fails to best meet the needs of either group.' Youth homelessness is a specific problem, with numerous causes and contributing factors. 'In attempting to address it, we face many conflicts and contradictions, which perhaps unsurprisingly require resources and approaches that combine a delicate formula of focus and flexibility to adapt to individual needs,' said Mr de Carteret. If the IDC application were successful, the property would provide occasional access to some units of emergency accommodation. Being within walking distance of the Havilland Street training flats, currently under development, would allow staff to support that element of the project more easily.