Find out more: new service to support homeless men
Do you know someone who would enjoy this article?
We’re proud to have launched a brand new service aimed at helping provide much-needed support for local people experiencing homelessness.
Here, our head of homelessness Amanda Croome tells us more…
What is Caritas House?
Caritas House accommodation project is our new supported housing project in North Manchester. It will enable us to provide high quality accommodation to 19 single homeless men, who are low risk but need support to enable them to resettle in the community.
Why have you decided it was important to open it?
There are too many people in our communities who are homeless and can’t access the right sort of supported accommodation which will provide them with security, dignity and help to enable them to rebuild their lives and successfully resettle in the community.
Caritas House will add an extra option and will help to fill an unmet need and ultimately will help to reduce homelessness in Manchester.
How is it different to your other services?
Caritas House is special for a few reasons…
Firstly, we’ll focus on enabling people to improve their health and wellbeing as well as supporting people to prepare for, and find, their future forever homes.
We will be offering activity sessions including gardening, art, cookery and a rambling group that will explore local parks and green spaces.
We’re creating a community where people can develop friendships and support networks and not just providing a roof over people’s heads.
Secondly, the building is fully accessible, which is very unusual for homelessness accommodation.
It was built as a care home and so it has level access, and we’ve added in extra facilities such as accessible bathrooms and kitchen and we have an induction loop too.
Some of our referrals will come from hospital discharge teams who are needing to find accessible accommodation for people who can’t return to their former homes because they need adapted accommodation.
What support does the service give to local people?
For many years the shortage of accommodation for people who are homeless means that people have been accommodated in unsuitable bed and breakfasts and hotels which are sometimes outside the city, away from people’s families and support networks. Caritas House will be able to accommodate people from the local area, close to their families.
We’ll also support and link our residents in with local community groups, so they can contribute to the community that they live in. Some will also get rehoused locally, so they will already have built up links in the community.
Are you seeing an increase in demand for your services locally and, if so, how are you meeting that need?
As soon as we announced that we would be opening, the referrals came flooding in.
We take referrals from the council and other supported housing providers, and we need to do careful checks to ensure that people are suitable for this service, but we have no shortage of people to choose from, which shows there is a real demand for more, high quality, accommodation for homeless people.
We hope this scheme will help ensure that no one who is homeless in Manchester is housed in poor quality, unsupported, and expensive bed and breakfast accommodation.
Who becomes homeless?
Homelessness can happen to anyone.
Often it starts with a relationship breakdown or a landlord issuing a section 21 ‘no fault eviction’. Some people who are homeless have complex mental health problems and/or drug and alcohol problems and may end up sleeping rough. But these people are just the tip of the iceberg.
Many other people don’t have complex needs but end up sofa surfing because they struggle to find affordable accommodation and are stuck on housing waiting lists.
This includes families, as well as single people, who may be housed in temporary accommodation for a long time while they are waiting for rehousing.
There is a chronic shortage of affordable housing and until more is built, we are not going to be able to end homelessness.
Is there anything you wish people knew about homelessness or any myths you wish you could dispel?
Homelessness isn’t inevitable.
With the right support we can prevent people from becoming homeless and with enough affordable accommodation for people who just have a housing need, and high quality supported accommodation for people who need more support before they can cope in their own tenancies, we could end the use of bed and breakfasts, end rough sleeping and end homelessness.
And if we fund these services and new homes, it will save money in the long run, as housing people in temporary accommodation is so expensive and has knock on effects on poor health and children having problems in school which also costs money.
What other services does Caritas offer to support people who are homeless or who are at risk of homelessness?
We work closely with local councils and other voluntary and statutory sector organisations to help tackle homelessness.
We operate homeless prevention services and homeless health hubs in our Cornerstone day centre in Hulme and at Red Door in Bury. We also have supported accommodation projects at Morning Star in Manchester and a young parent accommodation project in Blackburn for families.
Caritas also runs a range of projects across Greater Manchester and Lancashire which help prevent people from becoming homeless, including our school service team which supports children and families, some of whom are living in temporary accommodation, our energy advice project which supports people to be able to heat their homes and avoid problems of damp and the Lalley Centre, Community Pantry and Allotment which supports households who are struggling in North Manchester.
How can people support Caritas House and the people we work alongside there?
Caritas House doesn’t receive any funding from the local council, so we are dependent on grants and financial donations from the general public if they feel moved to help us end homelessness.
For example, we’re delighted when individuals, groups and businesses agree to sponsor a room – for £30 per week or £1,500 per year.
If you’re a landlord, we’d be very keen to hear from you if you’re interested in offering accommodation to our residents who are ready to move into their own tenancies too.
You can make a donation in support of our work now by clicking here.
To find out more, click here now: Caritas House accommodation website page