Vision of the Hub & Rehousing Programme

  • There is a school of thought that says that helping people on the street perpetuates the problem and encourages people to stay there. It’s not a good school! Even of that’s true for a minority of people, the answer is clearly not to withdraw support and cause even more hardship to the majority who are homeless as a last resort.

‘Ernest Hemingway once said: In our darkest moments, we don’t need solutions or advice. What we yearn for is simply human connection—a quiet presence, a gentle touch. These small gestures are the anchors that hold us steady when life feels like too much.

Please don’t try to fix me. Don’t take on my pain or push away my shadows. Just sit beside me as I work through my own inner storms. Be the steady hand I can reach for as I find my way.

My pain is mine to carry, my battles mine to face. But your presence reminds me I’m not alone in this vast, sometimes frightening world. It’s a quiet reminder that I am worthy of love, even when I feel broken.

So, in those dark hours when I lose my way, will you just be here? Not as a rescuer, but as a companion. Hold my hand until the dawn arrives, helping me remember my strength.

Your silent support is the most precious gift you can give. It’s a love that helps me remember who I am, even when I forget.

- In what ways can quiet companionship be more healing than spoken words?’

2024

In 2024 our aim is to launch our Vision of the Hub and Rehousing Programme, employing two experienced part-time co-ordinators and a team of trained volunteers to work with people on the street to move them towards permanent accommodation and employment on a person centred and step-by-step basis. The key is not just to help people off the streets but the advice and support to help them stay off the streets, especially in their first 12 -18 months in work or new accommodation. 

By launching this project, we can help people immediately and also help move people forward in their lives by providing personal support, training, benefit advice, forging relationships with social landlords and working collaboratively with local councils and community agencies to develop creative low-cost solutions. 

It’s not easy to find accommodation if you have no deposit for a flat, maybe a criminal record and you don’t have decent clothes to meet a potential landlord in. Falling into the hole is easy but you need to help to get out and not fall back in.

Help us to rebuild lives.

The Project will cost around £50,000 per year and will run 5 days per week, primarily in Central London. The effect on individual lives will be enormous. As a cost comparison, if we move just 20 people per year into employment, that will save the entire cost of the project to the public purse and bring in additional tax revenue to the government. We aim to do much more than that!

Prevention better than cure

Part of the Off the Street Project will also be about preventing people in temporary or highly unsuitable/dangerous accommodation from dropping into homelessness or rough sleeping. 139,000 children in the UK are in temporary accommodation. Impact on children and their families includes mental health issues, sickness, loneliness and malnutrition. 

We are especially looking for businesses to sponsor this project as a social investment. We will also apply for grant making trust and local authority funding.

  • "To save a life is a real and beautiful thing. To make a home for the homeless, yes, it is a thing that must be good; whatever the world may say, it cannot be wrong.’’

    Vincent Van Gogh

Rough Sleeper Story

When you begin to realise that you’re living on the streets, your main priority is looking for a place and somewhere to sleep during the night. I sleep in a bin, often a charity clothing collection one, as they are warm, comfy and waterproof.

I wake up in the morning between the hours of 7 and 8. You don’t want people to know where you are because it becomes easier for them to rob you or abuse you and parks are no good because people can do whatever they want.

More than anything else, it’s the aftercare. It’s fine for [charities] to help you to get off the streets and into a bedsit – That’s brilliant and I acknowledge that but it’s so easy for any homeless person to be back on the streets. The hardest bit isn’t coming off the streets – it’s staying off the streets and finding a job.”

Want to support this project?

Help us to move more people forward by providing personal support, training, benefit advice, forging relationships with social landlords and working collaboratively with local councils and community agencies to develop creative low-cost solutions.