About York Road Project
York Road Project is one of Surrey’s key homelessness charities: supporting people in Woking, Waverley and the surrounding areas. In the last two years alone, nearly 450 people approached them for help: extraordinarily, that’s one person for every 250 Woking residents.
They provide short-term accommodation for those with nowhere else to turn, longer term accommodation for clients who need a little extra support, a town-centre Resource Centre that incorporates a Rough Sleeper Drop-In service, an Outreach team who are often the first to engage with people sleeping rough, and numerous wrap-around support services (including Tenancy Sustainment support and ‘Changing Journeys’ coaching sessions) that help transform their clients’ lives, ensuring they never need to return to homelessness.
York Road Project's Challenges
Homelessness appears to be rising. Last year 150 unique individuals received a full intervention from at least one of their services, and 83% of them were new to York Road Project. Surrey-wide data shows regular year-on-year increases in homelessness since the pandemic, with the two key causes in Woking being an unexpected loss of private accommodation (ie inability to pay rent) or a family breakdown; things that could happen to anyone, and challenge many people’s perceptions about homelessness. This increase comes in a context of reduced funding, with financial support from the local authority at an all-time low in Woking.
This year York Road Project is celebrating 30 years of defeating homelessness. They are supporting more people year-on-year, and developing new approaches; but it has become harder to find the funding they need. They must secure £200,000 pa of voluntary income in order to deliver their services in full.
Their Now We Are 30! birthday fundraising campaign is a great way to support their work, with every donation doubled by the Aviva Community Fund until the end of July.
York Road Project's Achievements
Thanks to their person-centred approach, their services have very impressive outcomes: most strikingly, nearly 50% of those they accommodate at 1 York Road are successfully resettled after only 12 weeks. This is due to the way they integrate Support Services – tackling the underlying causes of homelessness as well as its immediate consequences.
Last year their Outreach Team engaged with more rough sleepers than in any year since the pandemic. 58 people attended our Rough Sleeper Drop-Ins: receiving food, showers, clothes and support from their team. 62 clients were accommodated in their short-term accommodation at 1 York Road, and 37 in their longer-term Move On accommodation. Of the clients supported by their Tenancy Sustainment Team, none have had an unsuccessful outcome, with 70% of last year’s cases already successfully closed: each client flourishing independently and no longer needing their support.
York Road Project
Donate to York Road Project, or check out their social media channels below!
