A 13-year-old boy from Chongming County recently became the first in the city to take advantage of a new scheme to provide temporary shelter for homeless young people.

Run by the nongovernmental Shanghai Sunshine Community Youth Affairs Center, in association with Pod Inn hotels, the program is designed to offer safe haven to teens and young adults aged up to 25.

Project chief Wu Zhihui said it was launched in response to calls from neighborhood committees that a growing number of juveniles across the city were being neglected.