Opening Doors for Homeless People in Sheffield

Aim

To prevent young people becoming homeless, by providing safe, secure, long-term accommodation.

Nomad Opening Doors have been working to end homelessness in Sheffield for over 30 years. We provide our tenants with safe and secure accommodation to help them build stability and realise their potential.

Our team is small, just 9 staff, but we currently have over 70 tenants and receive over 350 referrals every year. The need for our services is always increasing and we expect that need to increase further as the housing market continues to shrink. With over 2,700 homeless people in Yorkshire and the Humber, there is always someone in need of our support.

Our programme is so successful because of our dedicated team and the work of our asset coach. Our team help our tenants to realise their passion and their potential and to work towards goals. We found that 91% of out tenants sustained a tenancy while working with an asset coach and 84% achieved outcomes in employment, training, voluntary work or education.

We are seeking funding from Aviva to help our clients achieve these goal, whether that is paying for a training course, providing our clients with interview clothes, or loaning them a laptop so they can access education. We want our clients to find confidence in themselves and build a future, so they can live independently. 

Like Rufus, who came to Nomad just after Christmas 2019, after being kicked out of his parents' house. He had come out as gay and his family relationship had broken down. Nomad provided Rufus with a home, in one of our Training Flats, where he could learn the skills he would need to live independently with daily visits from a housing support officer.

Rufus settled into the Training Flats quickly, but suffered considerably from mental health problems. Nomad was able to refer him to an Asset Coach where Rufus explored his strengths, his dreams and his aspirations for the future - which was to one day move to Sweden to teach English. 

His Asset Coach found him a Swedish learning resource and within a matter of weeks, Rufus was speaking complex Swedish sentences with confidence and flair. With this new confidence, Rufus completed his personal statement and applied for a place at university - which was successful. After a few months, Rufus had established himself within a happy loving relationship and was preparing to move into university accommodation.

Without the support of Nomad, Rufus' mental health may have worsened and he could easily have ended sleeping rough, with little in the way of support. Now, he has his whole life ahead of him.

It's with Aviva's support that we can continue to open doors to people like Rufus.

This project successfully funded on 23rd March 2021