Homelessness housing campaign raises £157,000

Head of operations Helen Wilson-Prowse said its work was vital

A charity supporting young people at risk of homelessness in Cornwall has raised £157,000 with its recent housing campaign.

YMCA Cornwall said its Your Help, Their Future campaign aimed to create four new self-contained flats for vulnerable young people. The Duke of Cornwall kickstarted it with a £70,000 donation towards its £250,000 target.

The charity said it supported 50 people and currently had a waiting list of 46 people, including some who were under 18 years old.

Head of operations Helen Wilson-Prowse said: "It's vitally important that we're able, across the county, to have more units of supported accommodation for vulnerable young people who are either homeless or at risk.

She said: "We have 50 units of accommodation currently - there are only 170 across the whole of the county and our waiting list generally stands anywhere between 40 and 50 young people and shockingly many of those are aged 16."

Ms Wilson-Prowse said each person it worked with were supported from beginning to end.

She said: "They stay with us for a period of up to two years and during that time our supported housing team work with them on an individual basis.

"When they leave us, they leave us in a much better place than when they joined."