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NewVIc students campaign to end rough sleeping

Local MP applauds GSCE Citizenship students

NewVIc's student campaigners pose with a donation of foodsftuffs
NewVIc’s student campaigners

NewVIc GCSE Citizenship students organised a campaign to raise awareness of homelessness in Newham and find ways to tackle the issue which has been outlined in Newham Council’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2021 – 2026. 

The crisis particularly affects young people and councils in England have a £300m funding gap to help young homeless people, with Newham alone short of £32m, according to the homeless charity Centrepoint. 

And more than 9,000 children in Newham are living in temporary accommodation according to figures released last month by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities which revealed that 9,034 children were living in temporary accommodation in Newham as of the end of 2023. 

In the face of this crisis NewVic students held an event on campus to raise awareness of the scale of the issue and help young people to understand the challenges homeless people face. Students collected non-perishable food items and raised more than £240 to support a local food bank charity – The Newham Community Project. 

NewVIc students also reached out to local MP Sir Stephen Timms to voice their concerns and share their thoughts on local and national homeless strategies. 

During a visit, he congratulated students on the project and said: “We need to get Britain building homes again. If we can do this, we will start to make progress. During the pandemic we managed to ensure that homeless people were put in accommodation. This demonstrates that where there is a political will, it can be achieved.”


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