OUR PLANS TO HELP EVEN MORE PEOPLE

So far, 2020 has a been a bit doom and gloom – but we have some very exciting news to share. Already, we support up to 300 people to move on from homelessness for good each year. And from 2021, we’re going to be helping even more people!

Next year, we will start work on the construction of an additional 15 units of accommodation, bringing our total bed spaces up to 155. These new units will enable us to provide a safe place to call home for 30 additional people each year, as well as health and wellbeing support, educational opportunities and employability training.

Not only are we increasing capacity, but they are going to look great too. The new units will resemble a narrow street of small cottages, and each room will be comfortable, modern and have en-suite facilities. Designed to provide individually unique units to avoid an institutional feel and give residents a real sense of home, this separate wing of our building will lend itself to safely housing people who have faced much hardship, including those who have been sleeping rough.

“These plans mean that, each year, we will be able to help even more people to move on from homelessness for good. The thoughtful design of the project will ensure that residents have a safe home which they can feel proud of at and the support they need on their journey out of homelessness. With rough sleeping and homelessness in Newham increasing we cannot open these units soon enough.”  – Amanda Dubarry, Chief Executive

This development in the latest in our series of expansions and refurbishments over the years. The structure already exists, and was initially built to house educational facilities, however as homelessness has continued to rise, we knew we had to rethink our proposals. The result was our plan to increase the availability of accommodation for the growing numbers of people without a place to call home.

This existing structure will provide a warm and weather-tight envelope, which will help minimise costs and also means that the timescales for the development are considerably shorter than they would normally be for a project such as ours.

We are incredibly proud that we are able to move forward with this project considering the huge challenges we have faced as an organisation this year, thanks to generous support. With unemployment on the rise and rough sleeping in the borough of Newham at an all-time high, having increased by 135% in the last five years, this development could not have come at a more important time.

Thank you to all the funders involved in helping us achieve something incredible in the midst of a housing crisis. We can’t wait to share more when the renovation gets underway next year.

If you’d like to make a donation to help even more people to move on from homelessness, you can do so here. Thank you.