Demand rising for Wiltshire rough sleeper charity
Alabaré has supported over 2,500 people in the last year
A Wiltshire-based homelessness charity says it has seen demand rise by a fifth in the last year and is continuing calls for greater action to break the rough sleeper cycle.
Over the last 12 months, Salisbury-based Alabaré says it's helped over 2,500 people across the South West and Wales, whilst delivering 185,000 hours of support to people in its services for homelessness, veterans, young people's, mental health and learning disability.
CEO Andrew Lord said the rise wasn't a total shock to him.
"Each week we look at the figures in terms of occupancy in our homes, referrals, when people are moving on as well. So we had seen this increasing demand happening all across the year. But I must admit when I saw the final figures and reading the impact report it was pretty significant," he told us.
Homelessness is a crisis that has deepened over the last year, with over 382,000 people experiencing homelessness in the England, with the Government reporting an 11% rise in the South West alone.
It means there are fewer bed spaces in supported accommodation, which is compounded by a lack of suitable housing for people to move into and return to independent living.
Homelessness can occur for multiple reasons, including poor mental health, family breakdown, domestic abuse, trauma, addiction, unemployment and the rising cost of living.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made the tackling rough sleeper crisis one of his top priorities, and Andrew is hopeful that things will improve soon, despite the rising numbers of people experiencing homelessness.
"We've heard government talk about a significant investment into social housing, a significant increase in house building. That's all good news. I'm totally realistic. It will take time for it to work its way through but I do hope that we'll start to see the numbers come down."
Andrew stressed that ending the cycle of homelessness needs two things: More homes and greater support. He added that working with both local and national Government's would also be a key part of solving the problem of homelessness.
He praised the staff and volunteers at the charity for their work and dedication, saying none of what they've achieved in the last year would be possible without them.
"They've worked incredibly hard," he said. "They've been supporting people with lots and lots of care and recognising that the people they support have lots of complex issues as well. So our frontline staff members in particular, the ones who work a Alabaré Place and our other homes as well, have been absolutely superb."
He added that the support of the public has never been more crucial, saying supporting over 2,500 people is a significant challenge: "We need the support of the population to help us carry on this work. Their donations, whatever size of amount of money is, really important to us, so we can continue to provide the incredibly valuable support that the homeless need."