Roundabout youth homelessness services receive national praise
The work of the charity which has been supporting vulnerable young people for almost 50 years
South Yorkshire youth housing charity Roundabout has been hailed as one of the highest performing youth homelessness services in the country.
The work of the charity which has been supporting vulnerable young people for almost 50 years has been highlighted in a new evaluation report of National Lottery-funded work with the Roundabout team.
At a time when both statutory homelessness and rough sleeping numbers are higher than ever nationally, the report emphasises the way in which Third Sector agencies like Roundabout can have a critical part to play in supporting prevention of homelessness work.
For the past four years the National Lottery’s Reaching Communities England programme has been providing vital support for three of Roundabout’s most successful projects.
The Drop In Service, which is open five days a week, provides advice, information, and support to prevent homelessness amongst young people and find immediate solutions if young people are already homeless.
Talk It Out is a specialist mediation service, working with young people and their families to resolve the difficulties usually within the parental home, which can lead to young people becoming homeless.
The Peer Education Programme, which delivers interactive sessions, usually in school settings, raises awareness and provides information to young people on the realities of homelessness.
While these three prevention services are the focus of the evaluation report they form part of a much wider portfolio of services which Roundabout provides.
And because of their interconnectedness - and the way in which young people can access these services seamlessly - the Prevention Service and the other accommodation and support components of Roundabout provide a comprehensive resource which is far greater than the sum of its parts.
“In Sheffield, the outcomes achieved within Roundabout’s prevention services are impressive,” the report says.
“Despite a rise in demand of over 45 per cent in the Drop In Service, and more complexity within casework, Roundabout’s prevention work has led to a wide range of other positive outcomes for young people.
“All of the targets and outputs agreed with the National Lottery have been exceeded, alongside other outcomes which have been secured for young people.”
The report also praises the way Roundabout has responded to a sharp rise in homelessness - including amongst young refugees - through knowledge, a focus on prevention, collaborative partnership working and an underlying organisational commitment to prevent youth homelessness.
Without the provision of Roundabout’s services, the report says, it is reasonable to assume youth homelessness - including rough sleeping in the city - would be significantly higher.
The report adds: “There is much that can be learnt by other agencies, not least local authorities, in terms of the work of the prevention services provided by Roundabout and where and how investment in youth homelessness services can make a real difference.”
And it also says that Sheffield Council’s Housing Solutions Services need look no further than Roundabout to learn what works well in youth homelessness.
Roundabout Chief Executive Ben Keegan said: “The £343,535 four-year funding package we received from the National Lottery in 2022 has been vital in the development of the three areas the report covers.
“The statistics provided within the report speak for themselves - in that time well over 1,600 young people have accessed our Drop In Service or Talk It Out Mediation Service for advice and support.
“Based on a group of 762 young people who came to the Drop In Service for help, 100 per cent had an accommodation outcome with none left facing the prospect of sleeping rough.
“Our Talk It Out Mediation Service prevented homelessness amongst 94 per cent of the 145 mediation cases which, as the report says, is exemplary.
“More than 8,000 young people have attended a peer education session, with around 90 per cent of participants citing much greater increase in awareness and knowledge about homelessness and its causes – and where to go for help before a crisis.
“Equally important to us is the fact that young people with lived experience of homelessness who become peer educators say they now have more self-confidence, self- belief, and have developed new skills.”
Ben added that what Roundabout now most definitely looked forward to was the opportunity to work better with Sheffield Council.
“The report, while being very positive about the things Roundabout is achieving, does point out that, at the moment, Sheffield City Council is under-performing on preventing homelessness for all age groups, with a lower prevention success rate than the national or regional averages,” he said.
“The report also highlights that the situation in Sheffield is that the work on youth homelessness between Roundabout’s Drop In Service and the council’s Housing Solutions Service is less than the sum of its parts and that it could be so much better with some dedicated capacity from the HSS and clearer, more structured joint processes and prevention pathways.
“As Roundabout approaches its 50th anniversary, we look forward to working closely with our colleagues at Sheffield council, building on our own successes and offering even greater levels of support in our ongoing campaign to completely erase youth homelessness in Sheffield.”
Following the success of this work, Roundabout has also secured a further £455,306 from The National Lottery Community Fund to support its homelessness prevention work over the next five years.
The funding will enable the charity to continue delivering its Peer Education, Homelessness Prevention and Crisis Intervention services across Sheffield, while expanding these vital services into Rotherham, helping thousands more young people access support before they reach crisis point.
The full evaluation report of Roundabout’s National Lottery funded work can be viewed on Roundabout’s website: www.roundabouthomeless.org/our-impact/changing-the-narrative-evaluation-report/