Nightstop in Stockport & Trafford is one of about thirty eight Nightstops throughout the country. Not all are organised in the same way, but all Nightstops have to follow criteria and uphold minimum standards laid down by Nightstop UK.
We are a registered charity, independent of other bodies, and began to operate in Stockport in 1994, and have expanded our area into Trafford. However the official name of the charity is still “Nightstop in Stockport”.
We also support young people who are homeless or without a permanent address through our Starters Young Tenant Support Scheme.
Background
Most large towns have a population of homeless, the vast majority of whom are made homeless against their will. According to research done by First Stop (the Young Persons Housing Advice and Resource Centre, Leeds), in 92% of the cases dealt with by them the young people seeking help were homeless or threatened with homelessness against their will. For a young person, not used to dealing with officialdom, the anxiety of having no home, no job and no apparent way off the streets can be overwhelming.
Nightstop exists to provide high quality, sensitive and supportive emergency accommodation to homeless young people between the ages of 16 – 25 years. Nightstop is a team approach to homelessness. It operates by providing overnight accommodation for single people who are homeless, in the homes of volunteer hosts, both single people and families. Nightstop cannot provide long term accommodation, but works in co-operation with other homeless and housing projects to provide assistance for guests in finding such accommodation.
Nightstop offers a ‘breathing space’ to young people and to agencies who work with them by meeting the need for immediate accommodation in the area of benefit while appropriate longer term accommodation is sought and found. Nightstop’s role is solely the provision of this emergency service. Nightstop is not a network of foster carers. The scheme does not provide follow-up support or find long term solutions for young peoples housing problems; however we do direct young people to sources of support and work closely with housing providers in the area of benefit.
Since Nightstop hosts are all volunteers, using their own homes, accommodation cannot be guaranteed. Nor, for the same reason, can Nightstop accept young people who are, at the time of referral, under the influence of alcohol, drugs or solvents, are known to have committed serious violent or sexual crimes, or are suffering from an uncontrolled illness (which may be mental or physical). This does not mean, however, that we only accept “nice” young people.
Nightstop will take referrals only from agencies with trained staff who are willing to commit themselves to spending a little time with the homeless person. They will be asked to screen enquirers on the above criteria before referring to Nightstop.
History
Nightstop Stockport and Trafford was born after two local women from the same church saw a television programme, “Everyman”, in 1993, which showed how a group of people in Leeds had tried to tackle the youth homelessness problem there. Leeds Nightstop, formed as a result of the Faith in the City project, was the first, and had been running for about five or six years at the time of the programme.
Evelyn Johnson and Sarah Parker did their homework in Stockport, and in the autumn of 1993 a self-conscious group of volunteers, of different faiths and of none, met at Evelyn’s house to set things up. We relied heavily on the experience of Leeds Nightstop and on advice from Nightstop UK, and in May 1994 we had seen through the official launch and taken our first nightstoppers.
By autumn of 1994 we had attracted cash support from the Department of the Environment and the Church Urban Fund, and the first coordinator was appointed in October. Later we were able to take on a part-time project worker. In autumn 1997 we felt confident enough to offer our services to another local authority, and approached Trafford MBC. We have been active in Trafford since 1 August 1998.
In 2000, we set up the Starters scheme aimed to help young tenants manage their affairs in their first homes, and so avoid homelessness. The volunteers support the young people a couple of hours a week with life skills, cooking, decorating, shopping, bills and budgeting, form filling or maybe just some company for a couple of hours and have a chat and a coffee.
