Lakes MP sleeps out to raise money and awareness for young rough sleepers

On Thursday night, South Lakeland MP Tim Farron swapped his bed for a sleeping bag and joined around a thousand fundraisers at Centrepoint's London Sleep Out.

Centrepoint is the UK's leading charity for homeless young people, which supports up to 9,000 16-25 year by providing a safe place to live, giving them a health assessment and planning support for their individual mental and physical health needs.

The charity is holding Sleep Out events across the country to raise money for a new helpline for young rough sleepers. Tim and his team have so far raised over £2000 in donations.

Speaking the morning after the event Tim said: "It's outrageous that homelessness still continues to rise every year, and is a stain on our country."

"Sleep outs like this are cold and they are uncomfortable, but it is absolutely nothing like being homeless. You experience a tiny percentage of what it's like for the thousands of people across the country doing this for real every night.

"The thing to remember is we're only really two or three steps, any of us, from being in this position. It's not difficult to find yourself there. For the overwhelming majority of people out on the streets, it's not difficult to solve their problems".

Tim has called for housing benefit changes, more affordable housing, a significant increase in emergency accommodation, and a change to the priority need system to allow young single homeless people to access accommodation more easily.

Commenting on the new helpline, Tim said: "Assistance for people who are homeless is massively important because not being in a fixed place excludes you from so many sources of support."