Charity welcomes government support to tackle homelessness
YMCA Cheltenham provides emergency and supported accommodation for individuals, young people and families.
YMCA Cheltenham is a charity that supports people across Gloucestershire who are facing homelessness.
The charity provides emergency and supported accommodation for individuals, young people and families who need somewhere safe to stay.
They also offer a supported pathway to help people get back on their feet after becoming homeless.
In the past 12 months the charity has provided 101,470 nights of accommodation. This has doubled in the past 5 years.
These numbers highlight the rising demand across their housing and community support services.
YMCA Cheltenham have supported 652 people through housing services, including 116 families, 78 children and 55 young people aged 16–24.
As Andy Burnham promises to end rough sleeping by Christmas, we spoke with the charity about the work they are already doing to help people experiencing homelessness in Gloucestershire.
Rob Charsley is Head of Communities, Health and Wellbeing at YMCA Cheltenham.
He said, the charity welcomes the support and increased funding from the government to tackle homelessness.
Speaking about some of the misconceptions around homelessness, he told us ''There's lots of routes to homelessness, it feels like the past few years have become much more difficult with so much financial uncertainty.''
He said, ''A lot of people think if someone becomes homeless, its someone's fault. That is not the case. Of all the residents that we house, there are huge diverse backgrounds and circumstances to homelessness.''
He added, ''We've had really successful people with careers finding themselves needing emergency accommodation.''
Rob told us that when someone comes to live at the YMCA, they have their own key worker. That key worker is able to support them with whatever they need to move towards living independently again.
Rob told us that support at the charity goes beyond emergency housing.
He said, ''What's unique to the YMCA in Cheltenham and Gloucester is we have our Pathway Home scheme.
We can support residents to become more independent, moving them within our accommodation and then reducing the amount of support, but they always have that safety net there if they need it.''
''We have a whole range of services, we don't just offer accommodation.''
Rob told us about the other services that play a vital role in the YMCA's mission to tackle homlessness.
He said, ''We have lots of community services including family support, we have a pre-school, we also help tackle food poverty locally through FEED Cheltenham which is part of the YMCA organisation.''
''What's fantastic is that when our residents need additional support or expertise, we are able to link them up with those services.''