Rebuilding lives, one home at a time

13/12/2022

Everyone wants a roof over their head and a safe place to sleep at night, but getting a tenancy can be hard if you're homeless. That’s why our Safeguarding team is working closely with organisations like Housing First to help more local people find a place to call home.

Our partnership with Housing First enables us to help rebuild the lives of those who’ve experienced homelessness. It can be difficult to get approved for a rented home, as there are certain conditions that need to be met. But Housing First is different because it provides tenancies without restrictions. We work with them to provide vacant homes, while they support local people through the tenancy process and continue to help them turn their lives around.

Danielle Bishop, our Safeguarding Manager, says: “By working with Housing First we’ve been able to provide specialist services to people who need support to maintain a tenancy and leave the cycle of homelessness.”

"It’s rewarding to see how having a stable home can have such a huge impact on someone’s life.”

We’ve also successfully provided homes for five local people through our connection with St Mungo’s. They work with people who are homeless, dealing with substance misuse, or have mental health vulnerabilities. As well as helping them to find a home, they also support them to maintain their tenancy.

In 2019, we began working with St Christopher’s Trust and currently have 16 people living in our homes through them. And more recently, we partnered with GrowTH, a local organisation which works with people in Tower Hamlets who may have recently fallen on hard times, due to a job loss, or mental health issues.

Due to rising rent prices within the local area, GrowTH was struggling to find affordable homes for people. We were able to help, and provided housing for four people to live in.

Our partnerships with these organisations have enabled us to support more people in Tower Hamlets who needed a helping hand. They’re now able to begin rebuilding their lives, by having a place of their own to come home to.