We have welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s commitment to ending rough sleeping and offered to share Roundabout’s mission to end youth homelessness across the areas we serve.

The Prime Minister recently wrote to Roundabout to thank us for our work tackling homelessness and outlined his plans for a national drive to end rough sleeping.

In his letter, he highlighted the important role that charities, community groups and local leaders can play in that mission, saying that proven local approaches should be backed by national government.

Now our Chief Executive, Ben Keegan, has invited the Prime Minister and his ministers to Sheffield to meet our frontline teams, young people and local partners and discuss how Roundabout’s prevention-led approach could help inform the national effort.

A welcome letter from The RH Hon Andy Burnham MP

Tackling Youth Homelessness

At Roundabout, our teams work to prevent young people from reaching the point of sleeping rough in the first place.

Through early intervention, family mediation, supported accommodation and intensive, person-centred support, we aim to tackle homelessness before it reaches crisis point.

This approach means youth rough sleeping has become extremely rare across the areas we serve.

For many years, no young person has slept rough for more than a very short period because our teams respond immediately whenever somebody under 25 is identified on the streets.

Weekly research helps us identify vulnerable young people so we can take immediate action and work with our partners to find them safe accommodation.

Ben said: “When a young person does end up on the streets, they immediately become our highest priority.

“We work with our partners to get them into safe accommodation as quickly as possible because every night sleeping rough increases the risks they face and our aim has always been to make youth rough sleeping both rare and brief.”

At Roundabout, we’re there for young people before homelessness reaches crisis point.

Prevention at the heart of our approach

While responding quickly when a young person is sleeping rough is vital, much of our work happens before they ever reach the streets.

Prevention has been at the heart of Roundabout’s approach to youth homelessness, with our teams working with young people and their families to find solutions as early as possible.

The Prime Minister’s letter recognised the wealth of expertise that already exists across charities and civil society and stressed that there should be no “one size fits all” approach to ending rough sleeping.

As Roundabout prepares to mark its 50th anniversary, we believe the experience our teams have developed in South Yorkshire could make a valuable contribution to that national conversation.

Ben has invited the Prime Minister and ministers to Sheffield to see this work first-hand and discuss how successful prevention-led approaches could be scaled nationally.

“We would welcome the opportunity to contribute to any advisory group, task force or consultation designed to shape the next stage of the Government’s mission to end rough sleeping,” Ben said.

“The Prime Minister’s commitment has given many of us working in homelessness real hope and if Roundabout can help deliver his pledge, we would be honoured to do so.”

Cheif Executive Ben Keegan discussess our work at a recent Homewards event. Credit: Homewards.