Story
The uncomfortable truth is, we are all far more likely to be homeless tomorrow than we are to be billionaires tomorrow.
As young people, we are completely reliant on the adults present in our lives—such as family members and local authorities—for a place to call home. There are no words for the level of day-to-day fear and vulnerability you feel as a teenager without a safe, stable home environment to return to at the end of each day.
'Homelessness' isn't a nebulous, far off issue. The main causes for people becoming homeless, especially for young people like myself, are frighteningly common experiences; rapidly rising housing and living costs, loss of and difficulty finding a job, lack of affordable housing, family breakdown, domestic abuse and mental health crises.
According to June 2025 research published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on gov.uk, an estimated 3,438 people were sleeping rough on a single night in March. To provide some perspective, this is more than double the number of students at Parkstone or Poole Grammar school; around 1200~ students each.
For me personally, an even more sobering statistic is the reality that young people who are disabled, struggling with mental health conditions, racially marginalised or LGBTQ+ are disproportionately likely to become homeless. For example, it's estimated autistic people like myself, despite making up only around 1-2% of the population, make up around 12-20% of homeless people in the UK. The factors that can cause a person to lose the place they call home are difficult enough on their own for anybody to deal with, let alone as a teen with other physical and emotional burdens compounding this.
To do my part in combating this issue, on March 13th I'll be participating in my school's Sleep Easy 2026 fundraiser; I and everybody else there will be building a shelter from cardboard boxes and sleeping outside for one night to raise vital funds for YMCA Bournemouth.
Every penny raised will help the YMCA continue supporting people in our local community — giving them the chance to achieve a positive, long-term future through housing, counselling, training and wellbeing services.
I'm hoping to raise £500 for this wonderful charity and will be starting by saving up to contribute a £50 donation of my own, please donate anything you can, even just £1 or £2, as every little really does count!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for supporting such an important cause!