“A real honour”: Lord Mayor chooses youth homelessness as charity for the year
Ben Keegan, chief executive of Roundabout told The Star the Lord Mayor and his wife Sue Alston delivered the news in person a few weeks ago.
Sheffield’s youth housing organisation has been selected as one of the incoming Lord Mayor’s local charities.
Lord Mayor Andrew Sangar is the city’s longest serving councillor, and he accepted his new ceremonial role at Sheffield City Council's annual meeting on 21 May.
There he announced he would be supporting Roundabout as one of his charities, bolstering their mission for no one under 25 to sleep rough in Sheffield.
Ben Keegan, chief executive of Roundabout told The Star the Lord Mayor and his wife Sue Alston delivered the news in person a few weeks ago.
He said: “It’s a real honour for us to be chosen. It was a bit of a surprise. When they met us, we weren't sure that we were going to be chosen, I thought it was an interview, but quite quickly they said.
“I was very, very pleased. It was lovely.”
Ben explained the biggest benefit will be more people hearing about the charity’s work.
He said: “We have lots of services that try and prevent homelessness before it happens, but a lot of young people and parents don't know that we exist. Having the Lord Mayors support and being recognised as his charity of the year really helps with us getting the name out there.”
Charlie is a young person whose life has been turned around by Roundabout.
Originally from Brighton, he moved up to Sheffield to live with his partner, but after a couple of months the relationship broke down and he found himself homeless.
He was initially placed in temporary accommodation but the arrangement left him feeling unsafe and reached a point where he wanted to take his own life.
He was then referred to the Roundabout rapid rehousing team who moved him into a self-contained flat in February 2023.
As well as giving him a safe place to live, Roundabout have provided support sessions and check-ins every couple of weeks for the past three years.
He got back into college and gained a level two qualification, gained a part-time job and recently did an application for the Open University.
He said: “I had suffered through homelessness for so many years where I was like nothing's going to work, this is going to be my life now.
“Now I'm looking back at that two or three years later. Where I am now is completely different to where I thought I'd be.”
Charlie is hopeful that Roundabout being the Lord Mayor’s charity will help people in similar positions believe it is possible for their lives to change.
He said: “Roundabout can help people as much as they can, but that can only happen if people know about them.
“More people knowing about the service would give more young people the option to actually change their lives, because once you hit 25, there isn't much support.
“If you can get someone back into education while they're slightly younger it means they can still have that option to have a career and a life afterwards.
“I don't think being homeless should affect your future.”
Charlie also hopes that more people knowing about youth homelessness will reduce the stigma around it.
“I do think a lot of people think a homeless person is a drunk addict that causes problems on the streets and it's not always that simple.
“A lot of the time, if you look at the main issue, they’re not doing it because they’re being idiots and want to cause a problem. They’re doing it because they want help and don't know where to go.”
Ben said Roundabouts' mission to make sure that nobody sleeps rough in Sheffield under the age of 25 has become “increasingly difficult year on year”.
He said: “Last year was our busiest year. We were supporting just over 2000 young people in a year, which is the biggest we've ever had to try and help.
“We just got increasing demand for services, particularly our accommodation services. If we can do more work helping people stay with family, that's what we want to do.”