Clúid becomes a member of the Irish Coalition to End Youth Homelessness

Clúid is pleased to announce that we have become a member of the Irish Coalition to End Youth Homelessness.

This is a result of the overwhelming support and appetite we received at the Youth Housing Event we held in April this year. It was clear from the day that there was a need for collaboration and engagement between service and housing providers.

The Coalition to End Youth Homelessness was established in September 2017. The coalition is a way of consolidating the work of different organisations who work in the areas of youth services and youth homelessness and calling for a national strategy on Youth Homelessness, which was launched in November 2022.

As membership organisations, the work is varied. Some organisations provide front-line support to young people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless. Others advocate on their behalf, and some are representative organisations working with a host of smaller community groups. For us, it’s an avenue to be kept in the loop with what is happening in the space of youth housing provision and to strengthen relationships and potential partnerships down the line.

It is clear that we have joined on the basis of wanting to end youth homelessness and for beginning our own individual learning journey – exploring the options around youth housing provision. The member organisations were extremely supportive of Clúid joining. Our experience in providing housing at scale was something missing from the group to date which will hopefully further the overall work of the Coalition!

The membership includes: Barnardos, Belong To, Cope Galway, Crosscare, Depaul, EPIC, Focus Ireland, Foróige, Irish Traveller Movement, the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), Novas, Peter McVerry Trust, Simon Communities, Spunout.ie, St. Vincent de Paul, Threshold. Teen Parent Support Programme and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

Some of the objectives of the coalition include:

• Youth homelessness is a problem which, with the right mix of policies and service supports, can and must be ended.
• While young people experiencing homelessness have much in common with others who are homeless, their vulnerabilities and support needs can be different, and they may require a range of specialist policy and service responses.
• Youth homelessness needs to be tackled urgently. An experience of homelessness at a young age has the potential to have life-long consequences.

We look forward to continuing to explore Clúid’s position in providing youth housing.