Cardiff-based developer helps prevent youth homelessness with £1,133 donation

Leading partnerships developer Lovell has donated £1,133 to Upstream Cymru, an initiative led by homelessness charity Llamau.

Llamau is the leading homeless charity in Wales, supporting vulnerable young people and women. The charity assists those in need by offering them a safe place to stay, supporting them to live independently by teaching the necessary skills and confidence, and helping them back into education or employment.

Upstream Cymru is a school-based, early intervention programme that is focused on identifying and reducing the number of young people at risk and preventing them from reaching a crisis point.

The initiative begins with a simple survey completed by students aged 11 to 16 and covers a range of topics, including student wellbeing, resilience and engagement with education. More than 1,200 surveys have been conducted across seven schools in Wales.

Initial findings stated that 65% of young people who had filled out the survey were at risk of disengaging from school, but not receiving any support, and that 31% marked their wellbeing as low. Once a student has been identified as needing help, Upstream Cymru offers a range of intervention services.

The donation from Lovell will go specifically towards Upstream Cymru’s work in St Mellons, Cardiff, where the developer is delivering the St Mellons Community Living Project for Cardiff Council.

Denise Kennedy, Corporate Partnership Manager at Llamau, said: “Llamau would like to thank Lovell for their continual support and the donation to Upstream Cymru’s homelessness prevention work in partnering schools. These vital funds will support work to identify young people who may be at risk of becoming homeless and provide dedicated support that aims to prevent them from facing homelessness.”

Gemma Clissett, regional partnerships director at Lovell, said: “Llamau is a charity we’ve supported for many years at Lovell, so as soon as we heard about the Upstream Cymru initiative we wanted to get involved.

“Upstream Cymru is an invaluable project that has already helped countless of young people in Wales, and we are so proud to have made this donation. At Lovell we care deeply about the communities we operate in and hope that our £1,133 contribution helps more students in St Mellons receive the support they need.”

Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said: “At a time of immense pressures on our housing and homelessness services, homeless prevention work is a priority for Cardiff Council so it’s wonderful to see Lovell supporting this initiative with Llamau.

“The Council wants to work with organisations that share its values and who deliver community wellbeing benefits as part of the developments we’re bringing forward such as the St Mellons Community Living Scheme, as a way of improving the wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment in that area.”

The St Mellons Community Living Project is being built by Lovell for Cardiff Council and will provide high-quality, independent living accommodation for older people. The £17.2m development will deliver a total of 60 one and two-bedroom, self-contained apartments for social rent and a wide range of communal facilities.

Lovell is a leading provider of partnership housing and has been building communities for over 50 years. For more information, visit https://corporate.lovell.co.uk/.

For more information on Upstream Cymru, visit https://www.llamau.org.uk/upstream-cymru.