In early December London Mayor Sadiq Khan visited our emergency accommodation project, Hotel 1824, to draw attention to the need for better, tailored solutions to youth homelessness in London.
Delivered in partnership with the GLA, London Councils and Depaul, Hotel 1824 is London’s first emergency hostel specifically created for under-25s. This provision strengthens the safety net for the most desperate, giving every young person in London at danger of sleeping rough a safe place to stay in the short term as we find them somewhere to call home in the long term.
Run from a refurbished 40 bed hostel in West London, since March 2021 the project has already helped 136 young people facing homelessness and supported 77 to positively move on to long-term accommodation, all with wrap-around, expert support. The project has proven its positive impact from the outset, 98% of guests were proven to have never had another night out sleeping rough. You can hear about the impact of the project directly from the young people staying at Hotel 1824 in this video.
During his visit, the Mayor demanded that the Government “wake up” to the dangers being faced by hundreds of Londoners at risk of having to sleeping rough on the capital’s streets this winter. After touring the Hotel and speaking to staff and guests, Khan went on to say:
‘If the government are serious about their pledge to end rough sleeping by the end of the Parliament then it is time to wake up and start tackling the causes of rough sleeping. It is government policies and cuts to crucial services that are leading to people becoming homeless and preventing many people being able to effectively exit rough sleeping.’
We couldn’t agree more about the need for long-term, youth-specific solutions like Hotel 1824. We’re working with Homeless Link and other partners to use the learning from the project to strengthen the case for projects like this, which are specifically designed to help young Londoners without a safe place to call home. We’re really excited to have been chosen for a second year for the Mayor’s Winter Fundraising campaign, alongside our partners akt, Centrepoint and Depaul.
