WELCOMING householders with a spare room are needed to offer emergency accommodation for homeless youngsters in the Stroud valleys.

Gloucestershire Nightstop, a charity, is seeking temporary shelter for 16 to 25-year-olds who have nowhere to sleep, mostly due to fall-outs at home.

Volunteers - known as hosts - can choose to take someone in for as little as one night but leaders particularly want to recruit those who can commit for up to six weeks. The Stroud district is one of the busiest areas in the county for Gloucestershire Nightstop and leaders need extra help due to service changes.

Clare Sheridan, 57, and her husband Paul, 50, have helped around 100 youngsters by allowing them to use a spare bedroom at their home in Boakes Drive, Stonehouse over the last three years.

"Despite some initial anxiety, we have enjoyed taking young people in, offering help when it is needed and sharing in their success when it comes along," said Mrs Sheridan.

Last year, Gloucestershire Nightstop provided accommodation for 82 youngsters who were referred from partner agencies.

Stroud district was as busy as Cheltenham or Gloucester, with 20 young people staying for a total of 189 nights before returning home or settling down on their own.

The charity currently has only six hosts in the area, including one in Stroud and two in Stonehouse.

These volunteers belong to Nightstop, a scheme where hosts agree to take in normally one youngster for at least one night in the year.

Hosts receive expenses of £10 for a weekday night or £15 for a weekend night to cover costs associated with accommodation, including food.

Ashley Jenkins, 21, spent five weeks with three local hosts after he had to leave his home in Cashes Green due to the loss of his job in 2007.

"I had nowhere else to go and all of the hosts that I stayed with made me feel really welcome," he said.

Gloucestershire Nightstop has introduced a new scheme, Short-Term Supported Lodgings, to help cope with the increasing period youngsters take to find settled accommodation.

Hosts are paid £160 a week to offer a room for up to six weeks and must also run sessions teaching basic domestic skills to prepare youngsters to live on their own. There are currently no hosts for this scheme in Stroud.

All hosts are vetted, trained and can set down strict criteria on which people they take in and on which days.

Gloucestershire Nightstop will not place anyone with drug issues.

For more information, contact the charity on 01452 331330 or visit www.gloucestershirenightstop.org.uk * Comment on Gloucestershire Nightstop here...