Youth Concern CEO attends Parliamentary Reception

Our CEO Hannah was honoured to attend a Parliamentary Reception at the House of Lords yesterday, hosted by Lord Best OBE DL, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of StreetLink.

StreetLink exists to help end rough sleeping by enabling members of the public to connect people sleeping rough with the local services that can support them.

Hannah highlighted Aylesbury Vale’s homelessness problem (here) with Felicity Buchan MP and Minister for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, our local MP Rob Butler, Homeless Link Chair of Trustees Annie McLoughlin and other charities working in the homeless field including our partners AHAG, Connection Support and Wycombe Homeless Connection. Our new 3 year strategy (here) recognises that Youth Concern can’t support Aylesbury Vale’s vulnerable 13-25 year olds on our own. Getting out and making new connections, replicating best practice and learning from others’ mistakes is the way forward.

In its 10 years, StreetLink has received 500,000 notifications of rough sleepers’ locations and helped 86,000 homeless people across the country. Before StreetLink there was no easy way for the public to link rough sleepers to support. StreetLink has been a game-changer.