'I sofa-surfed after being kicked out of home on Christmas Day'

Dale was just 16 when he was made homeless on Christmas Day.

His mum kicked him out following an argument, and he ended up sleeping on people's sofas and floors for a couple of months.

Homeless charity Centrepoint says sofa-surfing is "not an uncommon experience" for young people in housing difficulties.

Research for the BBC found nearly one in 10 people aged 16 to 25 have had to rely on friends for somewhere to stay for more than a month.

Dale lived with his grandma before she was moved into a care home

Aged 16, Dale was sitting his GCSEs and living with his grandma - acting as her full-time carer.

When she was moved into a care home he had to go back to living at his mum's house.

"We have quite a strained relationship and there was just constant arguing which snowballed. On Christmas Day in 2014 she kicked me out," he says.

Dale stayed at a friend's house that day and sofa-surfing became his daily routine for the next few months.

He even kept his situation a secret at school because "you don't know how people are going to react and I didn't want sympathy".

Dale says he's lucky he didn't have to sleep rough

Dale, now 20, says he was lucky he didn't end up on the streets but it was stressful trying to find somewhere to sleep each night.

"I was on people's floors, at the end of a bed or on a sofa. It's rare people actually have space for an extra guest so I just had to sleep wherever there was room.

"It wasn't comfortable but you make do with what you've got and I was fortunate not to be on the streets so I was grateful for whatever I could get."

At the time, he was also studying for his A-levels which made things extra stressful.

"It was really hard balancing my work life and personal life because it's hard to focus on your school work and revision during the day when you're also worrying about where you're going to sleep at night."

Things started to turn around for Dale when he got in touch with Centrepoint.

They gave him a bed in a hostel, where he stayed for more than a year before being moved into his own flat.

Dale is now in his second year at university

He's now in his second year studying sociology with criminology at university and says he's proud of what he has achieved.

"Being homeless or sofa-surfing is not the end of the world.

"You can push through it and I hope that by telling my story I can encourage someone else to find help and be open about their situation."

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