A campaign from Sheffield Student Union’s ChangeLab over the Easter break saw students donating old mobile phones, chargers, and sim cards in aid for local youth homeless charity Roundabout.
The donations will be repaired and used to help homeless youths access essential services, with the phone banks being set up in connection with homeless youth charity Roundabout.
The group, from the SU’s social action programme Change Lab, said they were inspired to take action to address the issue of youth homelessness in the UK, and specifically in Sheffield, because they ‘recognised that many young people who are experiencing homelessness do not have access to essential services such as healthcare, education, and employment opportunities.’
Anisa Mahmud, a project leader, said: “We all have a part to play in creating a brighter future for young people who are experiencing homelessness.
“Let’s come together as a community and make a difference.”
The Change Lab group also said they are particularly concerned about the disproportionate impact of homelessness on marginalised communities, including people of colour, LGBT+ individuals, and those with disabilities.
Member Tom Poulter said: “Homelessness is a crisis that affects us all, but it hits some communities harder than others.
“As a community, we need to take care of each other and support those who are most vulnerable.”
The group cites research that finds people of colour and LGBT+ youth are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness.
Those claims are not unfounded. Research from the Albert Kennedy Trust in 2021 found that almost a quarter of homeless youths identify as LGBT+, and half of them were afraid to express their identity to family members before they were made homeless as they believed it would lead to their eviction.
Slightly more than half of LGBT+ youths said before they became homeless, family members stopped them from expressing their identity, 61% were frightened of or threatened by family members, and even more said they were repeatedly belittled by family members to the point of feeling worthless.
In each instance, more trans and disabled youths were affected than those who weren’t.
Additionally, a study by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh published last November found a black people in England are over three times more likely than white people to experience homelessness, and more than twice as likely for people from mixed or multiple ethnic groups.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, it sits only slightly lower, and people from mixed groups face a slightly higher risk in the area compared to the average for England.
Meanwhile, Roundabout are preparing for their second ‘Bangers and Cash’ fundraiser this September, as 25 local companies gear up to race from Sheffield to Munich.
The event returns for the first time since 2018, which saw winners SDE Group raise £96,000.
Contenders can spend no more than £1,500 on their car of choice, which will have their bonnets repainted to display elaborate works of art, available to see after the event in an October art trail.