HOMELESS young people have been helped to cope with the stress and pressure of the lockdown living at a charity’s hostel thanks to a coronavirus fund grant.

The Amber Foundation, which has a hostel in Trowbridge, had to lock down 27 young rough sleepers being helped to deal with mental health issues, addiction and family traumas. Two grants totalling almost £10,000 from the Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response Fund helped the charity make the hostel Covid-safe and buy laptops and gym equipment.

The fund has now raised £1.1 million and distributed £700,000 to more than 170 groups across the county.

Amber’s fundraising manager Laura Fenson said: “We are hugely grateful for the grants, they have made such a difference to the young people. We made the decision early on we were going to stay open during the pandemic so when we went into lockdown we spoke to the young people about whether they wanted to stay with us and stay safe. It would mean not going out and they accepted that.

“Communal living can be quite an intense situation anyway, without the added pressure of being unable to go out. But they really did rally round through it. The staff worked hard to continue our programme and the young people really rose to the challenge. Their physical fitness and their mental health continued to fare pretty well throughout the whole lockdown.”

Young people aged between 17 and 30 are referred to Amber by Wiltshire Council’s social services and housing teams, as well as addiction charities and sometimes the Probation Service.

“Some have left care, had a family breakdown or suffered mental health issues or addiction. We are not a short fix, people can stay up to maybe 15 months and during that time they are expected to enter into our programme so any alcohol or drug issues need to be dealt with. We hope they will move on to supported accommodation and employment or education,” said Miss Fenson.

“We look at the whole reason why the young people are unemployed, so we have got quite a lot of emotional support for them. We have counselling that deals with the traumatic backgrounds they come from.”

They are also helped with life skills which will become vital when they live on their own, including budgeting, cooking and household chores such as washing and cleaning.

The extra gym equipment helped the young people deal with the stress of having to stay in at the Bythesea Road hostel. “We have a gym but the equipment was being absolutely battered by everybody, so the second grant enabled us to get some more,” said Miss Fenson.

“We have two or three young people who are very into the gym and they rallied a lot of others around the idea of using it and they really set an example. We set up a second gym for some of the young women who felt more comfortable doing it on their own.”

Many of the young people are on college courses and needed laptops to continue their studies. “Normally we wouldn’t have everyone here at the same time, we’d usually have some out training or doing voluntary work. With everyone being here there was a lot more call for laptops so being able to buy some more helped them continue their vocational training,” said Miss Fenson.

She said hostel staff have been encouraged by the progress made by many of the residents, with one even winning a university place during the lockdown. He and some others are now moving on.

“Unfortunately during lockdown, we couldn’t take any admissions and what that has meant is we now have a waiting list of young people. For some during lockdown, their home situation has deteriorated, and they are now homeless,” Miss Fenson said.

“We have now started to take young people in as others have moved on, but they are having to isolate to ensure they aren’t spreading infection. It’s necessary but it is not ideal if anyone is suffering mental health issues.”

Find out more about the charity at amberweb.org.

Fiona Oliver, interim co-chief executive of Wiltshire Community Foundation, said: “We are delighted to fund Amber and are pleased that the young people in its care have responded so well during the pandemic.

“We are finding that more and more groups need help because of the effects of this crisis and we really appreciate the support we’ve had so far to be able to fund them. But this need will be with us for a long while yet and our fund will become even more vital as time goes on.”

To donate to the Wiltshire and Swindon Coronavirus Response Fund or to find out how to apply for a grant, go to wiltshirecf.org.uk.