THIS week a homeless shelter reported how it had seen the number of young people needing its help soar by 12 per cent. Reporter Chloe Glover spoke to some of the residents at the Nightsafe project about how important the centre has been to them . . .

AFTER breaking-up with his girlfriend 24-year-old Scott found himself sleeping in other people’s gardens.

Without money he found it impossible to secure anywhere permanent to stay.

Originally living in Chorley he was transferred to Blackburn by Chorley Council to find temporary accommodation but was unable to find a vacancy in a hostel in the town.

He was finally given a place at Canterbury House in Canterbury Street but is now worried about the prospect of having to sleep rough again in the future.

He uses Nightsafe’s day centre, which is set to increase its opening hours to operate seven hours five days a week after receiving a funding windfall, to get a daily meal, support and advice and to take part in the in-house sports teams.

He said: “Sleeping rough wasn’t nice at all.

“It just added to the feeling of being pushed away by authorities, one of which wasn’t able to properly deal with me itself so I was sent me to Blackburn on an empty promise of a bed.

“I’m worried that I won’t be able to continue to afford to live in the hostel if I manage to get a job.

“At the moment the hostel gets housing benefit and I give them a top up of £143 every fortnight out of my job seeker’s allowance but if I find a job the amount of support I get will go down.

“It’s a catch 22 really because I want to work but I might end up worse off.

“It just destroys the incentive for people to try to get work.

“I’d love to get my own place but the housing waiting list is so long and I’m not able to get back to Chorley easily for housing appointments or to look for another hostel or private house because transport costs too much.

“Nightsafe has been fantastic but when I’m 25 I won’t have access to it anymore because they only get funding for people up to 24 so I’m really worried about what will happen.”

Robert Barton, 24, currently lives at Islington House in Blackburn, after coming out of prison and sofa surfing with his brother.

After gaining a series of qualifications he is now determined to turn his life around but said that more houses would make it easier for younger people to get their life back on track.

He said: “If they provided more housing then not only would rough sleeping be decreased but it would provide people with jobs at the same time.

“I’m glad I got into a hostel but it’s not ideal and some people prefer to sleep rough sometimes because they’re intimidated by some of the other people who stay in them.

“Nightsafe has been a lifeline for me, especially in terms of helping me with job applications, so hopefully I’m on my way to getting back on track with where I want to go.”