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September 26, 2015

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Night bus tickets give homeless place to sleep

A London charity has resorted to handing out night bus tickets to give young homeless people a place to sleep due to a lack of hostel beds, it said yesterday.

“It’s the last resort, unfortunately, in order to ensure they are safer,” said Patricia Byczek, deputy director of the New Horizon Youth Centre in Camden, central London.

“We don’t have enough venues to refer them,” she added, saying that the center tries to find accommodation for homeless people aged 16-24 at shelters and hostels around the city.

The charity has been distributing bus tickets for more than two years but increases in London rents coupled with growing pressure on night shelter places have made it increasingly necessary in recent months, according to Byczek.

Staff at the center help young people find bus routes that run on a loop through the night to give them a full night’s sleep before offering them breakfast and a shower in the morning.

Official data show 7,581 people slept rough in London during 2014/15, up 16 percent from the previous year, said homelessness charity Crisis.


 

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