Wearing hard hat, luminous tabard and sturdy boots, 19-year-old Daniel Swalwell stands in what will be his living room.
He can envisage a squishy sofa and big TV but at the moment the property in the Southwick area of Sunderland is an empty shell.
"It's great," he says, surveying the well-proportioned terraced house. "It's got nice, big rooms and will look superb when it's finished."
He can be confident about that because he is personally helping transform this shabby house into a comfortable home as part of a new scheme run by homelessness charity Centrepoint.
Funded by Centrepoint and the Department for Communities and Local Government's Empty Homes Community Grants Programme, the initiative will see homeless young people like Daniel help refurbish disused flats and houses and then move in.
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