Award-winning actor Michael Sheen is urging the public to sign a 42,000-strong petition started by a group of homeless young people. 

The petition is calling on the UK government to introduce a 24 hours help service providing free support via phone and online so young homeless people can access support whenever they need.

Sheen who started a petition earlier this year and won his campaign to make sure homeless teenagers in Wales get placed into safe and appropriate accommodation in place of bed and breakfasts has now thrown his weight behind the campaign. 

Lifeline: The helpline petition has been started by Amy, Anthony, Jake, Jess, Jess, Kisha, Mark, Tegwen who are all experiencing of homelessness

He said: “Over 117,000 people signed (my petition) and discovered just how powerful people power could be when we changed policy.

I also got to meet some of the most inspiring teenagers – and now they have the people-power bug too. They have all experienced homelessness at a young age.

“Their vision is a helpline that is accessible and free by phone, online and an app. Think of a 999 but for young homeless people who want consistent, high quality, non-judgemental support at the point they find themselves in need of help. 

Victory: Household name started and won his campaign on Change.org earlier this year

“They really believe a helpline like this will make a huge difference to the lives of teenagers who find themselves homeless and I agree.”

For more information about this campaign go to, change.org/youthhomelesshelpline or email press.uk@change.org

Change.org petitions are now embeddable. Any mention of a campaign can now be paired with the visual (just as you’d embed tweets in a piece about a topic on Twitter). Find out more in our handy ‘how-to’ guide here.