An organisation that helps homeless young people is appealing for volunteers as it battles with a rise in the number of people on the street.

Bradford Nightstop has been providing emergency accommodation for homeless young people in the houses of volunteer hosts on a one night at a time basis for 19 years. But a spokesman for Nightstop said: “Changes affecting housing benefit have been introduced which have put enormous pressure on families and this has led to an increase in the number of young people becoming homeless. Our referrals are up 84.8 per cent compared to last year.

“Sometimes a young person will need several nights’ accommodation until they are able to return home or more permanent arrangements can be made. We know that temporary supported housing/ hostels are sometimes unable to take young people whose benefits are not in place and these can take some time to process.”

Now Nightstop wants to recruit more volunteers for a new scheme that will allow a homeless young person to stay with the same hosts for seven days, extending to 21 days if necessary.

Potential volunteers can go to information sessions on Thursday at the Carlisle Business Centre, Bradford, to meet staff and current volunteers. The sessions are 1pm to 3pm and 5pm to 7pm.