Young Persons Project

Schemes: Young Person's Project
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About Us

The Young Person’s Project provides supported furnished accommodation within Supporting People’s Resettlement Tier 1 services for young single people, couples and teenage parents over the age of 16. The accommodation provided comprises a mix of single bed and shared housing mostly located in the Beeston, Hunslet and Holbeck areas of Leeds.

Each house is single sex. YPP tenants are granted an initial six month Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

Who do we house?
• Men or Women aged between 16-25
• Single people not seeking to live with a partner.
• Homeless or otherwise in housing need.
• Pregnant teenagers in need of support.

Aims & Objectives

Our key aim is to support young homeless people and teenage parents towards sustaining an independent tenancy and greater social inclusion.

This is achieved by:

• Providing furnished, comfortable and secure accommodation for 6 months.

• Offering support, advice, training and assistance to tenants.

• Encouraging individuals to develop a structure and pattern to their lives.

• Assisting tenants in obtaining suitable long-term accommodation, and to prepare and plan their move. Support is given with the move and all residents are provided with help to settle into their new home.

Support Services

All tenants are allocated a key worker who will agree and coordinate a tailored support package. The key worker meets regularly with service users on an individual basis and can make where needed referrals to other agencies such as health, counselling, psychiatric, detox and advocacy services.

The support services offered by the project Include:

• Advising on benefit entitlement and access to public funds, including Housing Benefit (rent), Job Seekers Allowance and Income Support.

• Offering advice on matters relating to training and employment and education including job search skills, CV writing and interview techniques.

• Providing training in life skills to ensure all residents have the ability upon leaving the project to live independently.

• Giving guidance and advice on how to obtain additional counselling and support from specialist organisations in matters relating to mental health, drug and alcohol addiction.

• Providing advice on matters relating to pregnancy, parenting, sexual health and well being.

• Being available to discuss problems on a day-to-day basis, such as problems in relation to tenant’s future housing requirements, including payment of rent and benefits advice

• Experience of managing accommodation in the community

Referrals & Conditions of Occupancy

Referrals are accepted from a wide range of voluntary and statutory organisations, however priority is given to referrals from the Emergency Tier of Supporting People services. Service users are not normally expected to need the service for longer than 6 months. If appropriate an interview is arranged where staff explore more in-depth areas of concern.

When a young person is accepted onto the project they are notified within 24 hours if possible and a suitable date for moving in is arranged.

All service users are given an Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

Applicants for housing with YPP must meet the following requirements:
• Men or women aged between 16 and 25.
• Single people not seeking to live with a partner.
• Homeless or otherwise in housing need.
• Pregnant teenagers in need of support.

Appeals

Where a referral request has been refused and the applicant or their referrer is not satisfied with the reasons given, they have the right to appeal the decision. Appeals should be made within 10 working days of receipt of the written decision using the accompanying appeals form. Once received an appeals meeting will be arranged within 5 working days chaired by a Service Manager at which the applicant and their referrer have the opportunity to state why they disagreed with the decision. An appeal decision will then be made within 3 working days.