England defenders John Stones and Trent Alexander-Arnold will be playing in the Qatar World Cup to the sound of chants of ‘It’s Coming Home’ – but they’re among a host of football stars saying the opposite in a bid to combat youth homelessness.
Stones and Alexander-Arnold have joined Lionesses star Beth Mead, England World Cup legend Sir Geoff Hurst and pundit Micah Richards in saying ‘It’s NOT Coming Home’ in a new charity film.
The football stars, alongside other famous faces including comedian Jack Whitehall, rugby and Strictly star Ugo Monye and TV personality Mark Wright, are backing Centrepoint’s new campaign to prevent 30,000 young people from becoming homeless this winter.
The charity is predicting a surge in homelessness for 16- to 24-year-olds as the cost of living crisis bites – equivalent to five for every minute played at the World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off on Sunday.
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That prediction is based on figures from Centrepoint’s Youth Homelessness Databank which uses Freedom of Information requests to track the number of young people approaching their local authority because they are homeless or at risk of losing their home.