HOME PAGE for HOME-MAKERS

Scottish Council for Single Homeless is launching a new website, www.leavinghome.info , aimed at helping young people prepare for the realities of setting up their first home.

Everyone deserves a safe place to stay that they can call home. www.leavinghome.info offers advice and tips to help young people think about the kind of home they want, how to keep it, and what to do should an emergency occur. It also offers young people, teachers and workers a forum to exchange ideas and to create a network of advice for all of Scotland .

Young people were actively consulted on the design and content of the www.leavinghome.info, resul ting in a site that is youth friendly without being full of gimmicks. One of the young people consulted commented, "If I wanted to take a quiz, I’d go to a games site. If I want to find out about rights and stuff then I don’t want loads of distractions stopping me from getting to the important stuff."

Young people tell us that furnishing their place is one of their main concerns when they first set up home. IKEA is one of the places they identify as a good place to get things.

"Sometimes it’s the small things that can make a flat feel like it’s really yours," Another "young consultant" commented, " I’d love to have the whole place kitted out by IKEA, but for now I’m happy with my lamps and that" By holding the event at IKEA, SCSH hope to reflect the needs and aspirations of young people.

Notes

1. Scottish Council for Single Homeless (SCSH) is the national membership body for organisations and individuals tackling homelessness.
2. The www.leavinghome.info website complements Streets Ahead an innovative leaving home and advice guide for young people in Scotland . Streets Ahead comes as a series of booklets packaged in a CD carry-case. Over 10,000 have been distributed in Scotland since its launch in October 2002. Streets Ahead and www.leavinghome.info are targeted at all young scots, but are especially useful as young people who may need to leave home at a young age or who have previously been looked after. Local authorities across Scotland are using www.leavinghome.info and Streets Ahead to help meet new duties under the Housing (2001) Scotland Act to prevent homelessness.