The Berkeley Foundation works with New Horizon Youth Centre, an organisation that supports thousands of young people across London facing homelessness because of family breakdown, domestic abuse, poverty, experiences of violence, or war and persecution in their home country.
Hotel 1824, a project offering emergency accommodation for 18-24 year olds in London sleeping rough or about to become homeless, is run by NHYC together with DePaul and is part-funded by the Berkeley Foundation.
During Christmas, guests from Hotel 1824 were taken to the youth centre to be part of the Christmas celebrations. Polly Stephens, Senior Media & Communications Officer at NHYC, volunteered at the centre. This is her blog.
Every year, thousands of young people become homeless through no fault of their own. That’s why New Horizon Youth Centre exists.
We provide a vital support network for 16–24 year-olds with nowhere else to go. Through the ‘one stop shop’ services provided at our day centre, remotely, and via outreach we help young people experiencing homelessness in London to improve their wellbeing, improve their economic stability and find somewhere that they can call home.
A lot of visitors are surprised when they first come to our day centre. So many express disbelief at how the space doesn’t live up to their expectations. People are expecting somewhere sombre, rundown, silent. People expect this to be a sad place. We are many things but we’re not that. Our centre is light filled, up to date, and full of activity. Yes, our staff deal with some really heavy stuff, most young people we support are experiencing things we can’t imagine, but this isn’t a hopeless place.
Our staff love what they do, they engage with the young people positively. For many young people this is the first time they’ve been truly listened to and believed. We take our time, letting people tell their stories how they need to, providing a safe space to put down some of the burdens created by homelessness, insecurity, and fear. Our centre is a space of joy. We meet young people who face serious issues, but we focus on their hopes, ambitions, their potential. We see young people for who they are and who they want to be, not their current circumstances. Within the first few minutes of being in our centre, visitors realise that stereotypes about young Londoners and homelessness simply don’t hold.
Nowhere was this easier to experience than over the Christmas holidays. For most of our 55 years of existence our doors have stayed open over the festive break for young people sleeping rough, those in hostel or winter shelter accommodation and those who have become homeless during the festive season. We do this to give young people the rest, sense of community and joy that they deserve during the holidays.
Those working over the Christmas week were providing essentials such as clothes, food and bookings into emergency accommodation, as well as Christmas gifts, festive food and treats. On Christmas Day itself we provided Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, movies and board games, we’re one of very few youth-specific spaces providing an in-person experience like this, where young people can meet with peers in a safe space. This year we were delighted to welcome the residents of Hotel 1824, our ground-breaking emergency accommodation project run in partnership with DePaul, and part-funded by the Berkeley Foundation. Whether they celebrated Christmas or not, every young person we interacted with in December was made to feel welcome and special.
Now we’re back for 2022, rested and ready to deliver our mission to give every young Londoner’s potential a home. We hope you’re excited to be part of that journey and we look forward to welcoming you through the doors to our day centre one day, so you can experience it for yourself.