There is no direct access to this Nightstop for the homeless person. All guests will enter the scheme through a referral agency such as Social Services, a college, the Probation Service, the Youth Service or the Housing Department.
Once the agency refers to Nightstop, the telephone volunteer or staff member will contact an available host and pass on information about the guest: name, age, brief description, mode of transport, expected time of arrival etc. The telephone volunteer will then ring the agency to confirm the arrangement. The agency normally has directions and details of public transport provided by the host, identifiable as, e.g. host number 3, Jan & Martin. In many cases the host can collect the guest, or Nightstop may provide a driver/taxi. At no stage will the agency or guest know the private telephone number of the host, nor, normally, the surname.
Hosts make a basic commitment to provide a room, bath/shower, an evening meal, a bed and breakfast. Hosts are not expected to take on a pastoral or counselling role but are encouraged to lend a sympathetic ear without passing judgment.
Each guest is referred to Nightstop day by day: guests requiring more than one night’s accommodation will be referred to the scheme daily to enable guests and agencies to seek a longer term solution to their housing needs. On Friday, accommodation will be arranged for the whole weekend, but it will not necessarily be with the same host each day.
Because Nightstop deals with young people under 18 (generally about half of those referred), volunteers and staff must undergo statutory checks to comply with child protection regulations.
Hosts
Nightstop hosts are ordinary people who want to reduce the problems associated with homelessness and who have a spare bedroom which can be used to keep a young person off the streets for a night. Single people, couples and families may apply to be hosts; the only people who would automatically be excluded are those with criminal convictions against young people.
A volunteer host is committed to providing a young person with a warm welcome, an evening meal, bath or shower, a bed for the night in a separate room and breakfast the next morning. Some guests may need the use of a washing machine.
A good host is someone who is tolerant and encouraging but willing to set boundaries on behaviour, is able to listen attentively to young people without needing to tell them what to do; is welcoming, warm and makes people feel at ease, but does not become so close that a young person becomes dependent. We do not expect hosts to provide counselling or professional help.
Training
Prospective hosts will receive training over three sessions, and a guide book. Our preferred arrangement is to give two sessions separated by lunch on a Saturday with the third, more informal session at later date.
Hosts and other volunteers are invited to meetings from time to time at which issues such as child protection or housing benefit are discussed. At these meetings, volunteers exchange experiences and get a feel for the project as a whole.
The training includes the following topics:
- reasons for young people leaving;
- the duties of the local authorities;
- the state of mind of the homeless young person;
- the mechanics of a referral;
- practicalities of hosting.
At least one experienced host will be present during the training, and the opportunity is given of meeting others.
Guests
The host specifies the time of arrival, and of departure the next day. If there are house rules, such as no smoking, these will be kept with the host record and passed on at the referral stage. The guest may have friends in the area, and may wish to go out with them. The host should specify a time for return. The guest is usually quite apprehensive about walking up to the front door of a perfect stranger. Sometimes s/he is quiet, sometimes quite chatty. The guest’s confidentiality must be preserved.The Nightstop guests are often extremely vulnerable; many have just left home under difficult and even violent circumstances. Becoming homeless at a young age is confusing and painful, calling for sensitivity on the part of anyone offering help in the form of emergency accommodation.
Nightstop does not automatically turn people away with criminal records (but see an earlier note on who are excluded), or those suffering from depression
- after all, a homeless person is bound to be depressed. In these cases the telephone volunteer or staff member would make an assessment with the help of the referring officer and by seeking a second opinion. All relevant information about the guest is passed on to the host, who can then decide whether to accept the young person.
How often does a host take a nightstop guest?
Some hosts specify once a fortnight, others once a week or particular days of the week. It is very helpful if you can offer a weekend. In any case, you are always at liberty to refuse, even on a night specified.
Insurance
Nightstop does not take out home contents insurance cover for hosts, although small, ex-gratia payments may be made to cover small losses or insurance policy excesses. Our record to date is in fact not such to alarm insurers. Experience so far suggests that some insurance companies raise no objections when they are given details of what Nightstop does, while others are less cooperative. Hosts are given more information on this subject during training. Meanwhile, it is essential to note that you should inform your present insurers when you become a Nightstop host.
Expenses
When Nightstop in Stockport was first launched, it was run entirely by volunteers and with very little money. We are now in a position to offer charge cards to telephone volunteers, and a nominal amount to cover expenses for hosts and drivers.
What happens to nightstoppers when they leave the scheme?
By the nature of things we usually don’t know, but we have reports of people moving into hostels, or their own flats. Occasionally, we see a young person on the scheme again a year or so later. We have now started a scheme called Starters to support young people in there first tenancy to prevent young people returning to Nightstop.
