Hi my name is Jack Mellor and I'm very excited to take part in the YMCA Sleepout.

As a member of the Green Party, and a young person, homelessness and the urgent need for Britain to be building social/council housing again, tackling the scourge of landlords in the private rental sector charging more than an arm and a leg for a roof over one's head, the material economic conditions that can push people into homelessness: these are all enormously important issues to me.

Have never done this before so whilst exicted I am rather nervous in regards to how much I can prepare for the experience of what it must feel like to sleep in the cold?

But it's a challenge for a reason because it's challenging and a very real struggle for the hundreds of thousands who sleep rough or are in temporary accommodation, failed by government policy to change the economy for the many and not the few that creates this state of affairs. The few can afford on their shareholder income as many houses and properties as they please, whilst home ownership feels like an impossible dream for me, never mind someone without a home.

It's an incredible cause to raise money for and I look forward to the challenge.