About St. Basils
The association works with young people aged 16-25 to help them find and keep a home, to develop their confidence, skills and opportunities and to prevent homelessness. On top of the 350 young people it houses each night, a further 200 are supported in independent tenancies.

Of the one in 20 young people in Birminham who experience homelessness each year, more than 4,000 go to St. Basils for help.  About 50% come from blacka nd minority ethnic communities.

The award-winning project
The association works with a wide range of organisations to prevent homelessness. “Our goal is to reduce the numbers of young people who approach us in crisis and increase the numbers who leave us in a planned way,” it says. “Currently 66% of young people who come to us leave in a planned way and 90% sustain their subsequent tenancies for more than 12 months.”

The St Basils Youth Advisory Board of 15 young people elected by their peers shadows the board of Directors and provides advice and expertise to senior managers. It recently won the National Housing Federation iNbiz Award for Customer Engagement. St Basils’ Education, Employment and Training Department builds self-confidence and personal development through learning, training and employment.

What the judges said
“This is life-changing and life-saving work, carried out daily,” said the judges, “by an organisation that attracts dynamic people who deploy a range of techniques, with considerable success, to help and advise young people – before they get into difficulties and afterwards – and to set them up in independent housing when the time is right.”

They also said that “the high regard in which St Basils is held by public and voluntary agencies, ¬some of which are competitors for grants, donations and influence, ¬is remarkable”.

Annual fundraising of more than £500,000 demonstrates the affection and regard with which Birmingham’s citizens hold St Basils, the judges added. “The accolades from Birmingham’s Director of Housing, from the Connexions Agency, from the Youth Offending Service and others were truly impressive.”

The experts' view
“St Basils’ Schools Training and Mentoring Programme with peer mentors is exceptional and deserves a Gold Award in its own right,” the experts said. “A hugely impressive initiative getting a real message on homelessness out to an age group that may be on the cusp of experiencing many of the triggers that could lead to homelessness. It is highly replicable and should be introduced everywhere.”

The family mediation service offers a further route for prevention, they added, and the Youth Advisory Board is example of effective youth and user involvement and is “highly replicable”.

Further information
Visit St. Basils' website for further information about the organisation.