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YMCA
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About Us
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YMCA during war
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Get Involved
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Shops
How YMCA is helping homeless young people
YMCA is the largest charity provider of supported housing for young people in England and Wales.
A safe home; acceptance; guidance; friendship; physical and mental health; academic support; employment skills; and access to real opportunities.
YMCA believes these are essential building blocks for a full and rewarding life, and yet many young people have never known them.
At YMCA, our mission is to provide these critical foundations for a fresh, strong start for young people and a better quality of life in the community.
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We provide safe, affordable places to live that feel like home and focus on community spirit and togetherness.
This includes (number of residents):
- Emergency accommodation – 3,591
- Supported hostels and foyers – 11,479
- Supported lodgings – 647
- Move-on housing – 3,762
- Family rooms – 187
- Women’s Refuge – 144
- Winter night shelters – 314
- Hotels and youth hostels – 64,208
Our aim is to empower young people to gain the tools and skills that enable stability, independent living, promising futures, and connection to their communities.
Ending youth homelessness
Having somewhere safe to call home is an essential cornerstone to living well, and our local YMCAs provide this to those most in need.
We’re proud to be supporting 708 communities in England and Wales
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young people
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YMCAs in England and Wales
YMCA is so much more than somewhere to live.
Through one-to-one sessions with key workers, group programmes and courses, residents and young people learn the tools and skills to live independently and build towards a promising future.
Our housing teams provide support to residents based on their strengths, and centre these as part of their support plans.
This includes (number of residents):
- Emergency accommodation – 3,591
- Life skills – 5,704
- Supported lodgings – 647
- Budgeting – 6,562
- Work skills – 3,682
- Family reconciliation – 1,335
- Mental health support – 5,051
The support young people receive reflects their aspirations to access education, training, employment and volunteering, their future housing needs, and addresses any physical and mental wellbeing needs.
Our work
YMCA supports young people in communities all across England and Wales. The support we give to those young people is tailored to their individual needs.
This is why YMCA is so unique – it’s a full package of support for young people. That is why we ask for £12 a month. From the moment they arrive, they’re taken care of. This is made possible with donations from RoomSponsors.
Sign up to become a RoomSponsor today, and we’ll send you regular updates from the young people you’re helping in your area.
Local YMCAs have great ambitions to help tackle the nation’s housing crisis by building new affordable housing tailored to the needs of their local community and young people specifically. However, there are a number of barriers which make it more difficult for local YMCAs to achieve these ambitions.
As well as the generally difficult economic context facing social and affordable housing providers, we have identified a range of challenges from interviews with local YMCAs and other stakeholders. We make six recommendations to the Government and Homes England about actions they can take to remove these barriers.
If our recommendations are implemented, we are confident that we can enter a new era of housebuilding to equip the UK with the safe, warm, affordable homes that our communities need.
A report exploring the barriers young people in supported accommodation face when trying to move on to independent living.
In supported housing, young people are living away from their families in accommodation with shared facilities. Through support workers, reception staff, meal provision and holistic care, it is designed to be able to help young people settle and prepare themselves for independent living.
The goal is to create stability and establish a sense of purpose of what young people want to do with their lives from a safe base, while also identifying their needs and assessing their progress to move on to independence.
Youth Homelessness is a vicious cycle.
We’ve got big plans to break this. Together, we can end youth homelessness.
Frequently asked questions
Alongside supported housing, YMCAs provide a place to stay for those travelling and studying, from student housing to a range of hotels, youth hostels and backpacker beds.
Young people can stay at a YMCA for as long as they need to, as every young person is an individual with individual needs. In some cases, young people can stay for up to two years. We hope you’ll want to follow the young people you are helping and give them your support for as long as you can.
We provide 10,432 beds across distinct types of housing to cater for the different levels of support individuals need, and to give them the best possible environment to build their lives.
Through one-to-one sessions with key workers, group programmes and courses, residents learn the tools and skills to live independently and build towards a promising future.