Philanthropy

Health and wellbeing

The average age of death for a homeless person is 44, while the overall average in the UK is 81. Adverse weather conditions, physical violence and unsanitary conditions are issues that can affect rough sleepers, and the same is true for people in temporary accommodation.

Serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia, bipolar and PTSD are far more common amongst homeless people, and suicide rates are nine times higher than they are for the general population. There is a very real need for effective health and wellbeing support specifically for homeless people.

As such, health and wellbeing is an important aspect of our work at Crisis, as without these basic needs being met it is very difficult for someone to access employment and housing. Across our 11 Skylight centres we work to signpost people to the health services they need, run a range of homeless specific health check-ins as well as delivering mental health and wellbeing activities such as counselling, yoga, mindfulness, exercise classes and more.

Housing

Crisis’s aim is to see everyone housed, in safe and stable accommodation, where they can live fulfilled and fear free lives. We offer our members access to a housing coach, who helps them in their search to find and sustain suitable tenancies. Increasingly, our coaches work to prevent homelessness and mediate for people who might not be able to themselves.

We’re always developing and adapting our housing offer to fit with changes in the housing market, the needs of our members and government policy. This requires research, testing, and the investment of individuals.

If you would like to discuss supporting housing projects at Crisis, please get in touch with the philanthropy team.

Employment and learning 

Although not all homeless people are unemployed, maintaining work can be difficult in unsuitable and unstable accommodation. Being street homeless for a long period of time can be deskilling, which perpetuates homelessness by blocking people out of employment.

Our employment coaches work with members to build their CV, gain work experience, and help them find quality employment or a route in to further education. Across our 11 Skylight centres, we run a range of education classes such as IT, Literacy, and ESOL, as well as practical courses, like Food Hygiene, Furniture Upcycling, and Painting and Decorating. We are always sensitive to the needs and aspirations of every person we’re working with and support them at whichever stage of their journey into employment they’re at.

The employment market is always changing, and we must keep up to help our members. We’re always in need of funding for our education classes, and for our employment coaches across our Skylight centres.

To learn more about funding our employment and education services, and hear about the projects we’re developing, please get in touch with the philanthropy team.

Policy and campaigning

Through our services we help around 11,000 people every year, but homelessness touches in excess of 236,000 people throughout Great Britain. With our policy and campaigning work we push for the policy changes needed to end the root causes of homelessness, so that one day our services won’t be needed anymore. This way, we can reach the others who need support.

In 2018, we launched a landmark piece of research outlining the changes that need to be made in order to end homelessness, called Everybody In: How to End Homelessness in Great Britain. Created in collaboration with hundreds of experts across the world, including 100 people with a lived experience of homelessness, it covers the housing, employment and welfare changes needed to end homelessness in all forms.

Policy and campaigning is a vitally important part of our work at Crisis, and we’re always looking to partner with philanthropists who are interested in funding projects in this area. To hear more about developments in our policy and campaigning work, please get in touch with the philanthropy team.