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Homelessness charity Centrepoint reported that youth homelessness has risen 40% in five years.

The homelessness charity for 16-25 year olds won top prize at the 2021 London Homelessness Awards (LHA) this week.

The Money House, run by MyBnk, received a £30,000 award alongside their first-place title at the leading awards institution to use toward its homelessness prevention initiative.

Greenwich Council have embraced the project, making it a mandatory part of their youth housing pathway.

The Money House’s aims are to give participants digital, financial and practical skills to pay their bills, rent and living expenses.

Staff made up of financial experts and former participants place individuals in a simulated living environment to mimic the one they will eventually be responsible for.

The project hopes to award these skills to allow young people facing homelessness to safely adapt to independent living.

“Our whole aim is to try give young people awareness of the rules of the game before they start playing the game”, said Head of Education at the Money House, Nick Smith-Patel, “Imagine trying to play football … you can’t actually win unless you know how to play.”

Commenting on the reason for the project’s effectiveness, Mark Wall from LHA said: “What we need to do is not just get people off the streets, but then we then need to put as much resource into keeping people in their tenancy.”

Wall described how judges at LHA look for projects that do things in an exciting and new way, that make a difference, and can be learned from.

This month, award-winning homelessness charity Centrepoint reported that youth homelessness has risen 40% in five years, with Black households representing 30% of those owed homelessness prevention or relief by their local authorities.

Winning the first prize award was “a really amazing feeling”, Smith-Patel added, “we’re really hopeful that it will mean we can work with more people.”

London news