Ilyana had been kicked out of where she was living
The living room of the property Ilyana is staying in(Image: Roundabout)
A Sheffield young woman was left standing in the city, bags packed, with nowhere to sleep – but now she has been supported into housing by youth homelessness charity Roundabout.
Ilyana, 20, had been kicked out of where she was living. She had nowhere to go, and even relied on ChatGPT to find a place where she might find support. She found a helpline, and waited for an hour on the line to connect to a support worker, who told her about Roundabout, which supports young people struggling with homelessness in Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
“I was crying and obviously very emotional. I’ve never gone through such a big change in my life like that. I didn’t know what to do. It was kind of scary,” she said.
Supported by the John Laing Charitable Trust, Ilyana has been placed in a three-bedroom home in Sheffield as part of Roundabout’s EveryYouth’s Future Builders programme, which allows charities to buy private properties and rent out rooms to those in need at 50% lower than market rate. While they live in properties like this, tenants can choose to receive budgeting support, counselling, household and cooking lessons, and other financial, emotional and life support services.
Ilyana is working full-time at a call centre, while also completing a part-time online mental health nursing course. “I’m doing this coursework to change my life and someone else’s,” she said. “Before, when I was living in my grandma’s house, I was paying for a lot. I was paying for gas and electricity and the wifi, so that was more than the total rent [including bills] that Future Builders asks for.”
The house features a fully equipped kitchen(Image: Roundabout)
The Future Builders programme aims to secure underused and neglected properties and refurbish them with support from foundations and businesses. With significantly cheaper rent, it also provides financial space for tenants to rebuild their lives. “Living in the Future Builders house allows me to save for other things,” Ilyana added. “I want to save for my mental health nursing apprenticeship, and I want to save for the future. I hadn’t really thought of saving money until they told me about the price of the rent.
“It allows me to do other things like keeping my mental health stable. I got back into piano lessons. I’ve always wanted to go back to my piano lessons and taking classes just calms me down. I do it every Sunday – I’ll go and have a class and I feel like it’s just like a fresh breath of fresh air.”
EveryYouth CEO Nicholas Connolly says: “We’re delighted to see the life-changing impact our Future Builders programme is having on young people in South Yorkshire. But we urgently need access to more homes and funding so we can support a growing backlog of young people who desperately need a place to stay – that doesn’t come at a cost to their future.
“We urge organisations with empty homes and funders to get in touch. Future Builders is more than accommodation, it’s a firm foundation for young people to build their potential.”
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