Helping young homeless to secure a place to rent

The Western Road branch of Yorkshire Building Society is holding its first action day next Monday (February 20) in support of its new three-year partnership with a homeless charity.

End Youth Homelessness (EYH) brings together local charities as a national movement to end homelessness among 16 to 25-year-olds in the UK.

Yorkshire Building Society aims to raise £750,000 over the course of the partnership to support over 700 homeless young people into their own rented homes.

According to latest figures by Centrepoint’s Youth Homelessness Databank, 710 young people in Brighton and Hove received some homelessness support from the city council in 2015/16.

Staff at the Brighton building society will be raising funds for EYH through selling EYH trolley coin key rings and holding a ‘give our bear a home’ competition.

Ian Baldwin, manager of the Brighton branch of Yorkshire Building Society, said: “We are proud to launch our new partnership with End Youth Homelessness and hope our customers and members of the public in Brighton really get behind us.

“Our action days will raise funds for rental deposit guarantees, home essentials grants, and practical help for homeless young people seeking to live independently.

“This partnership is at the heart of what we do at Yorkshire Building Society. As an organisation we pride ourselves on helping people become financially secure and achieve everything they can, including having a place to call home.”

EYH was founded in 2010 by charity Centrepoint, after its patron Prince William challenged the charity to end youth homelessness.

Rosie Mellor, partnership manager for End Youth Homelessness, said: “Every year 83,000 young people are homeless in the UK. Through our partnership with Yorkshire Building Society we will not only be supporting 700 homeless young people into their own rented homes, we will also aim to break down the barriers that homeless young people face.”