Husam Thabit was 17 years-old when he left Yemen to be with his family in Sheffield. He dreams of being a dentist and wants to study at university to achieve his goal.

He lives in social housing, with support from South Yorkshire youth homelessness charity Roundabout.

In the UK, it’s estimated almost 136,000 young people aged 16-24 were homeless or at risk of homelessness in 2022-23, as per Centrepoint Databank statistics.

Husam, who has dual nationality and is now 19 years-old, arrived safely in Sheffield and lived with his aunt and her family for a while.

He said: “I stayed there until I was 18 but it was crowded and there wasn’t really space for me, so I felt like I needed to leave.

“There was nowhere else for me so I would have been cold and scared and I know I would have ended up on the streets and met people who would have taken me into all sorts of bad situations.”

When Husam reported himself as homeless and contacted social services, he was referred to Roundabout.

Roundabout is a South Yorkshire charity for youth homelessness, and its housing service, commissioned by Sheffield City Council, provides semi-supported housing for young people aged 16 to 25.

It is part of the Every Youth partnership, which is a national movement aiming to end youth homelessness in the UK.

Husam added: “My life would have been really, really bad if I hadn’t been put in touch with Roundabout.”

Roundabout offers self-contained and furnished accommodation to homeless young individuals, to build trust, break down barriers, and support personal progression.

It works with over 380 young people every day, providing them shelter, and support. Their hostel, located near London Road, hosts 27 young people aged 16-21. 

Roundabout says it is “strongly committed to preventing young people from becoming homeless.”

It is also estimated that 1 in 62 young people in the UK were facing homelessness in 2023-2024.

Roundabout and similar charities in Sheffield and across South Yorkshire including Cherrytree, The Guinness Partnership, and Safe@Last among others, are helping young individuals find social housing, so as to provide them with a place to live and the support they require.

Instead, Husam has a place that he says he can now call home for the first time.