Who are we
Spires is a lifeline for homeless and disadvantaged people in South London. Our mission is to support homeless people into housing before ensuring they have the tools they need to maintain their accommodation.
How we work:
Our skilled team of key workers create individual support plans with each client to address underlying support needs whilst facilitating access to our network of landlords and housing pathways.
Every client we support has a different journey, but typically there are three stages of support, which are:
- Assess
- Support
- Maintain
Assess
We first meet the majority of people supported by the Housing and Homeless Team during our rough sleeper breakfasts, which run four days a week. We welcome homeless and insecurely housed individuals who can access a warm space, while being offered food, clothes and other basic necessities before being assessed.
Support
Key workers access each individual’s housing requirements and address their underlying support needs. One of the ways they do this is by working with local authorities and/or Spires' own network of landlords to ensure clients move into suitable housing. The causes of homelessness are complex, and we know that without the right support, the chances of a person keeping their accommodation are reduced.
Maintain
The people we work with always know they can come back to Spires for support and can access a warm space where they can feel safe and interact with our staff. By having little to no barriers to accessing our services, we are able to intervene early and support people into housing and those at risk of losing their housing.
“It’s nice to know that there were people who cared about me and I wasn’t all on my own.” September 2022
Community impact
Spires creates a welcoming and safe environment for all and we pride ourselves on being the first point of call for many people in need of support. Through supporting people to exit homelessness we see ourselves as a community resource. Our work both supports individuals in their time of need and reduces the number of people sleeping out in the community.
“Spires staff work effortlessly to produce outstanding results for the homeless in our community, providing appropriate support according to each persons’ individual needs. They offer a connection and pathway for the homeless in the community, ensuring they receive the best care possible" Community Support Officer, August 2022
Why are we crowdfunding?
Due to the current cost of living, we are dealing with high demand for our services with homelessness on the rise across London, whilst we are additionally managing increasing costs for our day centre operations. We saw a 40% increase in attendances at our centre in 2022 compared to the year before meaning we are seeing more homeless clients than ever accessing our services to secure housing whilst having benefitting from the warm space offered at Spires. With the help of more donations, we can deal with the high demand for our services, help with the running costs at our day centre while achieving our objective of securing more clients out of homelessness and into safe accommodation.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The money raised will contribute towards the overall running costs of the services provided at our day centre. We’re seeing a drop in our usual funding sources while dealing with rising energy costs and increased demand. This means it has become more challenging to keep our centre operational as a warm space where rough sleepers can receive warm food & clothing and targeted support to help them out of homelessness. Every donation received will help manage with these rising costs while also enabling us to purchase extra warm supplies for our clients, including warm clothing and heaters.