Still with us?? Excellent, today we would like to do a big plug for our Housing Services, who are probably our biggest unsung heroes, working round the clock, 365 days a year, to support vulnerable young adults both in Southampton and Basingstoke.

In Southampton we have been awarded the housing contract for the whole of the city and, as part of that, we have added in emergency beds at our George Williams House. We’ve asked Louisa, our Southampton Housing Manager, to tell us a bit more about how it works and why:

“We have newly refurbished some existing office space and redeveloped it into a 4 bed emergency suite, aimed at housing young people aged 16-21, following a homelessness assessment from our referring agencies. Freshly decorated and fitted with an ensuite bathroom/shower facility, the room comprises of two sets of bunk beds, as well as a seating area and a TV.

This emergency accommodation will offer short-term housing as an immediate resolution to street homelessness, and provide a safe environment for young people whilst a full assessment can be carried out on the young person, enabling the opportunity for more permanent/long-term accommodation to be sourced, via the YMCA or the Young People’s Housing Panel.

We are delighted to be able to offer this reactive solution to the young people of Southampton at what is usually a time sensitive and difficult time, and hope that we can all work together to ensure the success of this initiative.”

If anyone would like to find out more about the housing work that we do, please visit the housing section of our website.

And without meaning to do a cheeky plug, but every year we do a SleepEasy event – where people sleep rough so others don’t have to. SleepEasy is George Williams House’s largest fundraising event and we need all the support we can get, so please take a look on our events page to see how you can get involved.