PRESS RELEASE / MEDIA INVITE
YOUNG SCOTS CONDEMNED TO LIVE IN POOR HOUSING
--- Social care charity Quarriers launches Condemned campaign to highlight plight of homeless young people in Scotland ---
--- Pdf copies of the campaign leaflet are available as well as hi-res images. Please contact Nic White on 07770 886908 or Hailey Ross 07770 886906 ---
Date and time: Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at 10am for 10.30am
Meeting point: Main entrance at Hampden Park Stadium, Glasgow
Media opportunity: Interviews available with Quarriers chief executive Dr Phil Robinson, Quarriers youth housing champion and head coach of the Scotland homeless world cup team David Duke and case studies
To attend launch: Please contact:
Nic White on 07770 886908 nwhite@webershandwick.com
Hailey Ross 07770 886906 hdross@webershandwick.com
Social care charity Quarriers is calling for urgent changes to the housing and benefits system which is condemning thousands of young Scottish homeless people to live in accommodation of an unacceptably poor standard or in a location where they fear for their own safety.
Quarriers will launch the Condemned campaign at its annual young people’s conference at Hampden Park in Glasgow today (Wednesday, June 10). The initiative aims to raise awareness of the reality of life for young homeless people in Scotland.
Condemned focuses on four key issues to ensure that:
- No young homeless person should be condemned to live in housing of an unacceptably poor standard or in a location where their safety is compromised;
- No young homeless person should be condemned to a choice between living in in-work poverty or remaining on benefits;
- No young homeless person should be condemned to move into an empty house or face the prospect of years of paying off rent arrears;
- No young homeless person should have to endure the vicious cycle of repeat homelessness because of a lack of affordable rural housing;
Quarriers has made a short film to accompany the campaign in which young homeless people supported by the charity talk about their experiences. The film will be screened at the Q2 conference at Hampden Park today (Wednesday, June 10).
Dr Phil Robinson, chief executive of Quarriers, said: “The young homeless people Quarriers supports often come from traumatic backgrounds and deserve to have a safe and secure place to live where they can start their adult life.
“However, thousands face huge challenges. There is often a perceived threat that they have to accept a tenancy – even if it is unsuitable – or they will be offered nothing else. In addition, young homeless people are penalised by a benefits system which is hugely complex and fails to offer adequate support for those who work and can find jobs.
“There are also huge inconsistencies across Scotland in the availability of support to furnish tenancies with some able to access furniture packs and others reliant on community grants.
“And many young people in rural areas successfully complete a housing support programme which enables them to sustain and maintain an independent tenancy only to be unable to access house due a shortage of suitable accommodation. They then either remain in supported housing long after it is necessary or re-enter the homelessness system often using bed and breakfast accommodation.
“Quarriers would like to see changes in the housing and benefit system – by both the Scottish and UK governments – which would have a huge impact on the lives of thousands of young people.”
The campaign is backed by David Duke, the coach of the Scottish Homeless World Cup team and Quarriers’ youth housing champion.
David, who was a resident at Quarriers’ youth housing project James Shield’s, said: “I know all too well what it is like to be a young homeless person. I ended up on the streets after a series of personal setbacks saw me turn to alcohol. I was isolated and too embarrassed to turn to relatives for help. I managed to turn my life around but it was a struggle.
“It is bad enough being homeless without being faced by a benefits system which stacked the odds against you. It leads to a vicious downward spiral which is suffocating.
“We must stop condemning young homeless people to a life of misery.”
Quarriers operates 10 youth housing projects across Scotland, supporting more than 270 young homeless people.
The Q2 conference is organised by Quarriers Voices In Projects, a self-advocacy group of young people who are supported by Quarriers Youth Housing Support Projects. This is a forum for young people which facilitates the young people in Quarriers’ youth housing support projects to express how they feel about the services they receive from the organisation and the issues that are important to them.
The group has two members who represent Quarriers at the quarterly sessions of the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP). Young people attending the Q2 conference this year will be voting for their choice of who should represent the charity at the SYP in its next session.
Issued by Weber Shandwick on behalf of Quarriers.
For further information please contact:
Nic White: 0141 333 0557/ 07770 886908 email: nwhite@webershandwick.com
Pre-record interviews available with Quarriers chief executive Dr Phil Robinson, David Duke and case studies. Call Nic White on 07770 886908 / 0141 333 0557 or Hailey Ross on 07770 886906 / 0141 333 0557 to arrange interviews and obtain a copy of the report.
