Updated
Tuesday, 22nd December 2020, 5:55 pm
As the arrival of a more infectious strain adds a most unwelcome twist to the impact of coronavirus, the extraordinary and collective response through our county to meet the needs of those most at risk and vulnerable continues apace. As High Sheriff, my focus on loneliness has introduced me to the particular challenges being faced by young people who have become homeless and I was therefore delighted to learn more about this problem from Samantha Burton, who is the chaplain of the YMCA Downslink Group (DLG) in West Sussex.
Samantha told me youth homelessness on the whole has been exacerbated this year due to the pandemic – with the YMCA DLG seeing a 61 per cent rise in young people presenting as homeless in March and April this year, compared to the same time in 2019. The lockdowns, schools closing and job losses have put huge strain on families, and on people’s mental and emotional health in general, and all of these factors contr