North East

Having worked in London for a number of years it became apparent that a large proportion of the young people we were working with at our hostels had come to London from the North East of England and specifically a number of council estates based in the North East of Newcastle. We commissioned some research and found that in the East End of the city of Newcastle there was no provision for homeless people.

Depaul Trust was offered a house by the Daughters of Charity and through some support from a housing association and a donation from a charitable trust we were able to convert it to house 11 young people facing a life on the streets. The hostel opened in November 1997 and provided not only housing but also a model for working with the community that was a blueprint for future developments. A team of volunteers were housed at the project and worked part-time in the project and part-time in the local community helping at youth centres, with the elderly and disabled. We also developed schemes to work with young people in the area surrounding the project focussing on sport and ICT.

The region quickly expanded and Depaul Trust is now the largest housing provider in the region. The following projects now operate in the North East:

Compass - North Tyneside
Supported Lodgings Scheme - North Tyneside
Baseline - Newcastle
Food voucher scheme - North Tyneside
Simonside House - Newcastle
Sports Coaching Development
click@depaul - ICT resource
INLINE - North Tyneside
Outside Link in Deerbolt YOI
One-to-One in Deerbolt YOI
Community Resettlement Worker
Employers' Liaison Worker
European Voluntary Service (EVS)