Focus €15, in the Stratford area of east London, looks more like a Holiday Inn than a hostel for the homeless. Nine storeys high, it offers strictly controlled accommodation for 100 young people at risk and a further 110 unfurnished flats for those who are "moving on".
The average age of its mainly black residents is 20, according to Mr David Chesterton, director of the project. They were interviewed three times before being accepted, and part of the agreement is that they must have a "career action plan" and sign up to a life skills programme.
"They must show that they are serious about taking themselves seriously, and we have to be convinced about that. If they just want to doss, they can doss elsewhere," he explained. "And we don't take kids who are mentally disturbed or who have drug or alcohol problems."
What Focus €15 (the postal code of Stratford) offers its residents is "a chance to succeed". After about six to nine months of living in the foyer, they are usually ready to move on; first to the more independent flats it provides in the same block and, finally, to the outside world.
The "moving on" accommodation on the upper floors of the block is unfurnished, but Focus €15 helps residents to get furniture. Access to both elements of the scheme is computer-controlled, with the use of "swipe cards", and monitored by closed-circuit television cameras.
All visitors must sign in at the reception desk, where at least two members of staff are on duty at all times. Boyfriends or girlfriends are allowed to stay overnight, but there is a strict policy of "zero tolerance" on drugs; anyone caught dealing is asked to leave. The games room on the ground floor has been closed for a week as a reprisal for an attempt to steal the coinbox under its pool table. Other facilities include a highly-successful community radio project, an independently-run Internet cafe and a youth advice and jobs centre.
"Foyer's not a solution to every young person's housing needs," Mr Chesterton conceded. But Focus €15 works, because it is obviously well run by a committed staff of 19.