A scheme to take homeless young people into local homes is to be launched in Ryedale next month.

The Ryedale Nightstop project aims to prevent homelessness among people aged 16 to 25 by helping with emergency overnight accommodation.

The scheme has been running in other areas of the country since 1987, and Government funding of £10,000 has now been made available to implement it in Ryedale.

Coordinator Carol Robinson said: "Nightstop provides emergency accommodation for young people in the homes of volunteers.

"It is very much based in the local community. We would hope that a young person who is homeless, or threatened with homelessness, will be able to find help locally."

Ryedale District Council senior housing services manager Kim Robertshaw said the authority was delighted that Nightstop would be established in the area.

"With Nightstop, we can make sure young people are safe. We can keep them local and it gives us a breathing space to get all the agencies together and try to help them," she said.

"Nightstop means we can put young people in a family situation and if one in ten young people then goes back home, the scheme will have done a lot."