OUR MISSION

Our mission is the relief of poverty among the street homeless/rough sleepers and homeless through providing items to support basic needs such as sleeping bags, ground sheets, survival sheets, blankets, clothing, food and toiletries. We also aim to improve the individual’s welfare through emotional support, even if it’s just a smile or signposting them to other services. We endeavour to prevent harm to health by referring to emergency and similar services as and when necessary throughout Hastings, St Leonards, Eastbourne and Bexhill.

HOMELESSNESS. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Homelessness can mean rough sleeping, but it can also mean any of the following:

Homelessness can mean rough sleeping, but it can also mean any of the following:

• Short-Term Emergency Accommodation: You could be placed somewhere for weeks or months and moved on with very little notice.
• Hostels: These can be chaotic, noisy and frightening. You may not feel safe or have any say in who you are living with.
• Sofa Surfing: Relying on the goodwill of family, friends or strangers and never knowing when you might be asked to leave.
• An outdoor space: Like a tent or shed in someone’s garden
• Housing that regularly changes: You may not know where you will be staying the next month, week or even day. This is also called vulnerably housed.
• Domestic abuse shelters and refuges.
• Leaving hospital, rehab, jail, the military or other situations where your accommodation needs have not been met and you have nowhere to go.
• Living in a caravan or boat that is illegally parked or moored.
• If you are a refugee, asylum seeker or those with no recourse to public funds.

SERVICES WE PROVIDE

HOMELESSNESS STATISTICS

The autumn snapshot estimates the number of people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn each year. Since 2010, when the autumn snapshot was first taken, rough sleeping has increased yearly, up until the implementation of the Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) in 2018, with an additional, more substantial drop during the pandemic. However, following the end of the “Everyone In Scheme” in 2022, numbers have climbed steeply year-on-year, and the figures for 2024 are equal to (and is some cases higher than) the 2017 peak.

Outside of London, the South-East of England records the highest number of rough sleepers.

As of 2024, the number of women, non-UK/EU nationals, and adults over the age of 26, who are sleeping rough in England is the highest ever recorded.

• The number of people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2024 is 4,667. This has risen for the third year in a row, increasing 20% since 2023. However, it remains 2% below the peak in 2017 and is 164% higher than in 2010 when the snapshot approach was introduced.
• The rate of people sleeping rough in England has increased to 8.1 people per 100,000 in the population in 2024 from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2023, though remains lower than the peak in 2017 (8.5 per 100,000).
• Nearly half (45%) of all people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn are in London and the South East, which is similar to previous years.

Alongside the yearly “Rough Sleeping Snapshot”, the government has also published the “Rough Sleeping Data Framework”.

These statistics show there were 2.2 times more people sleeping rough over the month compared to a single night, illustrating that the flow of people onto and off the street over the course of a month is significantly higher than those seen on any given night due to the dynamic nature of rough sleeping.

Additional statistics from the Rough Sleeping Data Framework, December 2024

Please get in touch to make a donation, request a collection box for your office.

We can arrange a drop off point if that's easier. However if this is difficult for you we can arrange for one of our team to collect from you.