Our work urging the Government to do better for young people saw us awarded as Charity Today’s PR Partner of the Year 2024.
The Challenge
In 2022-23, 135,800 people aged 16 to 25 approached their council for help because they were homeless or at risk of homelessness – that’s 372 a day or a new young person every four minutes.
While the numbers make for chilling reading, there is no national strategy for ending youth homelessness.
At the beginning of 2023, more than 120+ charities – spearheaded by New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC) – decided to take matters into their own hands. Under the banner #PlanForThe136K, they started calling on the Government to put in place a strategy to stem the spiralling crisis.
The Approach
NHYC needed a widespread campaign that would ensure Westminster could no longer turn a blind eye, and would have to sit up and engage.
The idea had to be simple and easy for people to support, and with 120+ charities involved – with varying levels of risk – it had to be inoffensive and inclusive.
The Ripple Effect recommended a parliamentary petition as the best tactic to ensure the message landed with three key audiences: young people, the voting public, and ultimately politicians. The goal was 10,000 signatures to trigger a Government response.
Leveraging the umbrella campaign, #PlanForThe136K, the petition would sit at the heart of an integrated campaign spanning everything from PR and social media, to national print advertising, buses and billboards – all designed to build pressure and force a response from the Government.
The Outcome
We had amassed 6,000 signatures in the first few days after going live, and our petition had surpassed 10,000 signatures by the end of January.
Media coverage, from Sky News to The Observer, alongside celebrity posts from Paloma Faith to Kano & sponsorship of Wrexham AFC’s programme, was instrumental in putting the issue of youth homelessness in the spotlight, bringing it to the attention of celebrities and high profile personalities – this really helped drive up the signature count on the petition.
The petition (with 15,000+ signatures) was delivered to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street, a move which Westminster couldn’t ignore.
Our campaign, succeeded in putting youth homelessness back on the Government agenda, with the issue debated in Commons for the first time in 40 years.
