'Life-saving' charity praised for work to combat youth homelessness

When Jade Husdan-Hicks was 17 they were kicked out of their family home and left to fend for themselves. But, with the help of homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes, eight years later Jade has graduated from university, found a job and, more importantly, a place to live.

"It was a quite a complex home situation," says Jade.

"In the first instance, I was quite literally kicked out, but there are layers to that.

"I am very openly queer person nowadays," says Jade, who identifies as non-binary.

"However, it was never safe for me to be out at home."

Jade had to rely on friends for a place to stay, whilst also attending college during the week and working at weekends.

"Within younger communities, you typically don't see us on the streets and that's because a lot of us will be sofa surfing, so it'll be going from friend to friend's houses and staying in the spare room or on the sofa," says Jade.

After several weeks of moving between houses in Whitby and Scarborough, Jade got in contact with the homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) through her best friend's family.

The charity, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, managed to find Jade emergency accommodation as part of their nightstop provision while Jade planned their next steps.

"Homelessness can happen to any young person for many different reasons," says Philippa Robson, the charity's CEO.

"Our hosts and staff work alongside young people to provide not just emergency accommodation, but the support, stability and confidence they need to build a brighter future."

The service pairs young people with a volunteer host, where they have their own room and access to a hot meal and shower.

"Typically the aim is within the next two to three weeks to get you into a more sustainable situation," says Jade.

"For me that was to be in a supported lodging, because I was studying and wasn't ready to be living independently.

"I would argue it's life-saving,"

Jade's story is mirrored by around 217,000 young people in the UK who experience homelessness annually, according to the charity Centrepoint.

"I was taking everything that I had on my being, my baggage, quite literally, to college every day and this was in October, November-time so in Scarborough it was absolutely freezing," Jade recalls.

SASH's nightstop service is available to any young person aged between 16 and 25 in York or the surrounding areas.

After using the nightstop, Jade was later paired up with a longer-term host within SASH's supported lodgings.

"I was matched with a similar kind of family style, it was a mum and some kids in a household," remembers Jade.

"The mum was absolutely lovely,"

"It was some of the happiest years of my life, which I think most people would find surprising given the circumstances, but I had 17 years in the same town before that and had never had that same welcoming feeling."

Jade stayed with their host family for two years until they secured a place to study social and public policy at the University of York, an achievement which seemed impossible when they were a teenager.

"It wasn't even a thought," Jade recalls.

"You have to get good grades, you have to have good finance, you need wider support a lot of the time to access uni, so I was already facing additional barriers because I'd been homeless and then estranged from my parents.

"While I was 17 and doing all these courses, BTECs at college, there was a point of like 'what are you doing them for?' because I didn't even know that [university] was going to be an opportunity."

Not only did Jade complete their degree, they went on to postgraduate study and graduated with a MA in Criminology with Social Research in January.

Jade, who is now 24, now works in the homelessness sector in Manchester, supporting people who were in a similar position to them seven years ago.

"Without the right kind of support that I received from SASH and from the amazing hosts I had during my time there, I don't think I would've had the confidence to use my lived experience to the level I am now," they say.

"So many people aren't safe to talk about their lived experience or if they are it's not something many people want to talk about, it's the most traumatic time of your life."

In 2024, Jade was also made a trustee at SASH and is one of the first members of the charity's team to have lived experience of homelessness.

"I didn't even know the service was in the area until I used it and it is very much a life-saving service.

"Economically life wasn't in my favour but with the support of SASH I've exceeded any kind of dreams that I had and blown beyond them," says Jade.

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