“MAKING life great for children and young people” is the ethos behind Belfast charity MACS.
Established in 1990 the organisation has spent more than 30 years working with young people “who have not had a fair deal”, with a specific focus on those aged 16 to 25 who are dealing with issues including homelessness, leaving care, substance abuse and mental health struggles.
“We are the only Northern Ireland homelessness charity working specifically with young people,” explains Kate Martin, MACS’s CEO.
“Our goal is to try and keep as many young people as we can out of the homeless system and get them the right type of support at the right time.
“Early intervention is so important in breaking the cycle before it spirals into long-term homelessness and the associated risks.”
Each year the charity supports almost 700 children and young people through a range of core services which aim to encourage and empower them to build brighter futures.
Typically, each person receives up to two years of holistic, wraparound care tailored to their individual needs enabling them to grow and develop.
“We don’t just provide young people with homes and access to housing, we support their education, health and wellbeing, training and careers and ensure they have life skills such as shopping, cooking and being able to budget their money,” says Ms Martin.
Since the charity’s formation, young people have always played a vital role in how MACS’s services have been devised and delivered.
“Young people’s voices are so important in the work that we do. We sit and listen to them and their stories and that’s what shapes our services - that’s the best way for us to meet their needs.
“For example, we offer a shared tenancy service where we match individual young people to live with others as a way of overcoming the social housing scarcity problem and the cost barriers a lot of them are facing.
“And that programme came about because of young people talking about being lonely in their properties. We do our best to listen and come up with effective solutions to fix the problem.
“Young people are at the centre of everything we do and we place a really strong emphasis on seeing the potential that they have and supporting them to achieve their goals and be the best they can be.”
However, the demand to help children and young people is higher than ever. Particularly given the recent figures from the Housing Executive which revealed that more than 400 young people have declared themselves homeless after coming out of care in the last five years.
MACS is funded through statutory agencies to deliver their programmes and services but between the rise in youth homelessness and today’s climate of funding cuts, housing crisis and rising costs of living, fundraising has become an essential part of their work.
“The idea of fundraising is to provide extras for our young people - whether that’s giving them a gift at Christmas or helping them with their electricity or heating bills,” says Ms Martin.
“To have unrestricted funds that can be directly spent on young people and give them experiences on top of that basic housing responsibility would be incredible.”
It is for this reason that MACS will host its sixth annual Sleep Out challenge at Banana Block in Belfast on December 5 to coincide with Homelessness Awareness Week.
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The event will be facilitated by Homeless Connect which aims to raise awareness of the reality of homelessness in NI.
“We’re asking the public to sign up to the Sleep Out for a fun night. It’s going to be hosted by comedian Paddy Raff and there’ll be warm drinks, food from Bodega Bagels and a drum circle all before the challenge of actually sleeping out begins,” Ms Martin enthuses.
“It’s always a lovely evening full of craic and camaraderie before the lights go out at 11pm.”
Paddy Raff isn’t the only famous face to pop up at the Sleep Out which has previously welcomed the likes of James Bond actor Colin Salmon, country singer Lee Matthews, TV presenter Joe Lindsay and popstar Pixie Lott.
Ms Martin says the sleep out is “a real point of reflection”.
“It’s obviously not replicating rough sleeping but it does give you a chance to think about how for us it’s just one night away from our comfy bed - others aren’t so lucky and don’t have a safe place to call home,” she explains.
She hopes it will be an “eye-opening experience” for those getting involved and will help provide a greater understanding of homelessness in Northern Ireland.
“Homelessness is all around us and it’s not necessarily a person on the street, there’s an awful lot of hidden homelessness, specifically within our young population,” she says.
“I’d really love for people to think about what it would be like if they weren’t going home the next morning - if they were facing the same level of instability and uncertainty as some of the young people we work with.
“Housing is a human right; it has a massive effect on every other part of your life - which I hope people taking part will understand.”
Find out more at www.macsni.org
