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York Nightstop was set up in 1994 and is part of the UK-wide Nightstop charity, which operates 50 projects across the country.

The project relies heavily on its volunteers in order to run its accommodation projects, as the young people are hosted in the homes of local families and individuals.

There are two accommodation schemes operated by the charity; The first is Nightstop, which arranges emergency accommodation for one night at a time, there's a maximum stay of seven nights (four nights in York).

The second project is Safe and Sound Homes, which is a supported lodgings scheme offering accommodation from one month to two years. Just like the Nightstop scheme, the young person is hosted in the homes of volunteers.

York Nightstop covers the York City, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Ryedale and Scarborough areas of North Yorkshire.

At present there are eight volunteer hosts in York, two in the Hambleton and Richmondshire districts, five in Ryedale & one in Scarborough.

Project Co-ordinators, Tracy Ward and Adele Coupe

Adele Coupe and Tracey Ward are the project co-ordinators for York's Nightstop. They receive around 250 referrals a year for emergency accommodation from various agencies, including the police, the City of York Council and Citizens Advice Bureau.

The charity is funded by district Councils who give an allocated amount of money to the charity, but they also receive donations from fundraisers, which makes the volunteers' work invaluable.

There are many reasons why young people leave home, but Tracey explained that the majority of the young people using the charity have become homeless due to a family or relationship breakdown.

There are no specific requirements to becoming a volunteer host. The majority of hosts at Nightstop are regular people who just want to make a difference. But, as you can imagine, first time hosts do voice concerns before the Nightstopper arrives at their door.

"First time worries tend to be what kind of young person is it going to be? Is it going to be someone you perceive to be a homeless person?", explains Tracey.

"Everyone has a stereotype of what a homeless person is. Maybe they think they’ve slept on the streets for years and have drink and drugs problems. When sctually the young people are more likely to have been family breakdowns and the night before they are likely to have been in their own house.

"We check all of our young people. We don’t take people with drink and drug problems. "

Hosts are CRB checked and given training before interacting with any of the young people, as Tracey explains, "We do have training sessions for anyone hosting, in case different scenarios come up. It’s to try and alay some of their fears really."

Nightstop Hosts

Dennis & Beryl Little, from Strensall, have been volunteering for Nightstop for seven and a half years and are hosts for both Nightstop and Safe and Sound users. It all began when they saw a poster at the Minster advertising the charity.

Nightstop volunteer hosts, Dennis and Beryl Little

Beryl explained why she considered becoming a host, "There’s space at home, our children have all grown up and moved on and we jut thought it’d be a useful thing to do for the community."

The couple had never worked with homeless people before and did not know anyone else who had experienced being a host.

As it turns out, the couple's very first Nightstopper was lost, he didn’t know the area very well and had got a bit confused as to where he was.

Over the years around 57 Nightstoppers and a dozen Safe and Sounders have passed through the Little’s home.

“You only ever hear the young persons side of things, so you really do have to listen and be supportive, but you also have to ask some hard questions.
'Have you thought about this?' 'What do you think you’ll be doing in 12 months time?'," says Dennis.

“It depends on whether they open up at all. If they don’t, we don’t push them. If they just want to have a bath & go to bed, then that’s fine.” explains Beryl.

Dennis and Beryl say that they have no plans to stop being hosts for Nightstop.

"We’ll continue until we stop. The main thing about it is, it’s not a problem. If you’re going to be at home for the evening anyway, why not have somebody to come & stay? It’s really as easy as that," explains Dennis.

Nigthstop are always looking for new hosts to help accommodate young people in need. Adele Coupe explained that as well as having a spare room for the young person to sleep in, there are some qualities that hosts should have, "They need to have empathy, listening skills, non-judgemental. An open mind."