"Suicide. Desperation. Hate. Anger. Loss. Panic. Loneliness. Scared. Frightened. Hurt. Sadness. Shame. This is how I felt when i was homeless." says former SHYPP young person Hugo Sugg, who is now studying at university.

Young people in our county of Herefordshire now face being unsupported, abandoned and hungry as funding for SHYPP, this crucial homelessness service is cut.

Hugo Sugg recently told the Hereford Times "I owe my life to SHYPP because there were times were I considered jumping off a bridge because I didn't feel like a person - I was living on the street, I didn't have a home or food, I didn't have money and now it is all at risk. I got lucky, who will be there for the next person?" 

The Herefordshire Supported Housing for Young People Project (SHYPP) service is significantly at risk as the latest round of council funding cuts take effect. The council are giving just two weeks of consultation on proposals to cut 66% of services which will signal the end of all support to young people struggling in their own tenancies, the end of support to young, vulnerable parents and the end of any crisis intervention work taking place to help young people return home or find alternatives to being homeless.

Cuts last year had already led to the end of the homeless prevention project SHYPP had run in schools but the latest cuts go much deeper.  

SHYPP are concerned that the cuts will lead to the increased use of inappropriate temporary accommodation in poorly adapted bed & breakfast accommodation, placing already vulnerable people more at risk and without any support.

Removing support for young people will not only lead to increased homelessness and tenancy failure but remove the safety net that SHYPP have provided for years to prevent them from becoming more vulnerable or becoming a risk to themselves or their local community. With rural services already hard to deliver and other crucial services like CAB being cut, access to advice and support for vulnerable people in our county will disappear.

Seb Bowley who is now a full time customer services partner at Waitrose says:

“I’d lost my first job and was trying to find a place to live that would take housing benefit, which isn’t easy in this city.I was sleeping on different sofas and in my car and really felt that I was left on the scrap heap - at such a young age that wasn’t easy.”

Fortunately SHYPP's support of Seb has lead to a successful outcome. However statistically young people are more likely to fail in their tenancy and there is strong evidence to show that when this leads to homelessness the pressures on social services, A&E, police and mental health services increases.

Please sign our petition and show you care about the future of young people in Herefordshire.

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