Case Study

Stamford

Referrals in a supportive community, supported accommodation

St George’s is a large evangelical church in Stamford, a picturesque market town on the edge of Lincolnshire. Although Stamford might on the surface appear very affluent, there is another side to the town which is desperately poor. As one respondent said: ‘We have this beautiful looking church, full of posh, middle class people and then people who can’t afford the electric or to put food on the table’.

Housing problems are very prevalent among the people the church works with. Our researchers heard that: “It seems like everyone’s got a housing issue. They might be with a private landlord who wants their property back and then all of a sudden, they’re homeless. Rents are going up and up every year, so when they start looking for an alternative place to live, they can’t afford it and they’re stuck.” There is a shortage of council housing and housing benefit doesn’t cover private rents, so it is very hard for people on benefits to live in the town. Housing issues are frequently tied up with other issues, such as debt, mental health problems, addiction and relationship breakdown. 

The church’s work started several years ago with Lawrence Davie, a committed individual who until 2018 was the Associate Minister. The old church office was in a part of town where numerous homeless people would sleep overnight, so Lawrence started talking to them. People said of him: ‘He was an incredibly big-hearted man, very helpful, very kind, always believing in people, even when society was thinking that they were a waste of space.’ He soon became a gateway to P3, the local council-funded homelessness team. As people continued to come to Lawrence with different issues, he began to make strong connections with the relevant local services and the church became known by the council, the local Citizens Advice office and the police as a helpful organisation.

Some people expected the work to fizzle out when Lawrence left, but it hasn’t. Part of his job was taken on by Louise Rose, the church’s Fresh Hope Coordinator, who describes her role as ‘scooping up the vulnerable people on the outside of the church and supporting them wherever their need is.’ She works with around 30 people at one time, with help from church volunteers. She has also worked to develop relationships with support agencies further. 

One of Louise’s clients is a woman with two sons, who is living in a 2-bedroom property but desperately needs a third bedroom. She said: ‘They come from a horrendous domestic abuse situation and the boys are in this tiny box room together and they’re practically killing each other. One has severe medical issues and the other is really struggling with anger and violence. But because she’s in housing arrears, [the council] won’t move them. But the reason she’s in arrears is due to her domestic abuse. So we’re working to cover the multiple issues which might enable her to get a house transfer, from helping her to fill out forms, applying for a DRO (Debt Relief Order), and accompanying her to the CAB.’ 

St George’s has partnered with a Christian charity, Hope into Action, to offer long-term temporary accommodation for up to two formerly homeless men. Their first clients included Ryan (see box). Following an assessment, residents can stay for up to two years, providing them with a secure base whilst they seek to address other issues that may have contributed to them becoming homeless, for example a debt problem or addiction. Rachel Patterson, the local Facilitator for Peterborough and the surrounding area, explained how ‘The answer to homelessness is more than providing a house for someone to live in’.

Philanthropic investors, typically from local churches, buy a house and lease it back to Hope into Action, who take care of the management of the property. Investors get a reasonable return – 2% – and an opportunity to share their wealth with the poor. Our researchers heard: ‘Our thinking is that if we can access Christian savings, as well as Christian tithing, then we can use a fresh source of finance for the Kingdom’.

Hope into Action’s Empowerment Workers also provide professional support, meeting with their tenants regularly, drawing up a plan of action, encouraging them to make the changes they need to, and where appropriate, signposting them to other agencies. At the same time, the church provides a mentor for each resident, offering friendly, non-judgmental contact, positive role models, and a ready-made community. Rebecca, the main church contact for this project., said: ‘If there are disciplinary issues, Hope into Action can play the bad cop and we can be there to be the supportive friend. That’s working well.

St George’s is one of 50 churches that have partnered with Hope into Action, providing a home for over 150 people across 19 towns and cities in England. 

When asked why the church is well-placed to do this work, Louise says: ‘I think it’s the holistic thing. What we find is that you have to go to one organisation to get one thing fixed and another for something else. So there’s all these different places that people need to access. It’s too much when there’s already so much going on in people’s lives. Someone called us the glue between different agencies.’  

The church office, ‘The Hub’, acts as an informal drop-in for people with housing and other issues and is open every week day from 10am-2pm, except for Friday when they run a community café in the main church building. People can come for a cup of tea, cake and a chat, and for a food voucher if they’re struggling financially. For the church, it’s a good place to introduce them to different people and signpost them to other services, as well as meeting any immediate needs through the church’s hardship fund. They have people who are skilled in mental health, someone from CAP – a Christian debt advice service – and a team of around 10 staff and volunteers who are actively befriending, chatting, and praying with people. 

As Rebecca Winfrey, one of the pastoral workers, explains: ‘We do a lot of signposting to other groups or agencies, but a lot of it is just about sitting and listening and praying with people… The one thing we’re providing is community – love and care and relationships and psychological support for people, many of whom have no social networks… As far as they’re concerned, it’s their church.’ For some people, like Mary-Jane, who come to Friday Connect most weeks, it has literally been a life-line: ‘I don’t think I’d be alive if it wasn’t for St George’s church. If I didn’t have them in my life, I don’t know what I’d do. They’ve helped more than anyone has helped me in my whole life. Really I owe everything to them.’

Opportunities and challenges

One of the advantages for a church like St George’s, being a relatively affluent congregation, is that it has the money to fund this kind of work, including employing several support and pastoral workers, like Louise. The hardship fund, which comes from donations by church members, is used frequently, for example to buy a tent for someone who is homeless, a hot sandwich for them every day, and a mobile phone so they can stay in touch. 

The church is also using the skills of people within the congregation to support their community work. Rebecca is a trained doctor and is looking at how the church can offer counselling and prayer ministry for people affected by post-traumatic stress, working with the local mental health service. Another church member is an electrician and helps with PAT testing the second-hand white goods that are distributed through SHEP (Stamford Housing Essentials Project), another church-run initiative.

At the same time, the disparity between the wealth of most church members and the poverty of many who come to Friday Connect can sometimes ‘grate’. Whilst the PCC and the wider congregation are very supportive and many are actively involved in different ways (for example, as befrienders or cake-bakers), Louise would like to impart the vision to the whole church, so that they are doing more of the ‘dirty work’ themselves, not just giving money. She continued: ‘At the moment, I feel like I’m fire-fighting. In order for it to be sustainable, it needs to be a coordinating role, so there’s more people on the ground doing hands-on work.’

During the Coronavirus pandemic, they felt almost ‘bereaved’ of the community café they were missing, showing how much of a community it had built. However, they were able to maintain support for those who needed it.

For all those we interviewed, their Christian faith was the prime motivation for what they do. As one respondent said: ‘I can’t make sense of my faith unless it includes loving these people. There are people in genuine need and poverty, and I just think it’s where it’s at. God really does move in this place and I’m utterly convinced that’s because we’re going all out to support the homeless and those in need.’ And they have been surprised by how responsive people are to the Gospel. They continued: ‘They come from a place of no hope and they’re offered hope. They’ve had doors slammed in their faces all of their lives – and all of a sudden they’re treated with worth and not judged and they’re not used to that, and it makes them open to Jesus.’

Ryan’s story*

“Ryan was made homeless at the beginning of the year, when he fell out with his mother. He slept at friends’ houses for a while and then lived in a tent on the edge of Stamford for 5 and a half months. He said: ‘It was horrid, the worst year of my life, definitely… I was working at the time, then obviously I wasn’t. you can’t work when you’re homeless – cleanliness and the whole mindset. You’re not focused on going to work, you’re focusing on just living’.

He didn’t know about the St George’s Hub before he became homeless and only got there by chance. He was crying in the middle of the street and saw the sign for Citizens Advice. They told him to go to the Hub. 

On that very day, Lawrence gave him a phone so he could be contacted, put him in touch with P3, and within two months, after an interview with Hope into Action, he was told he had the house. While he was still homeless, he would go to the Hub every day where they would make him a bacon sandwich, provide him with duvets and pillows, and let him charge his phone and download programmes to watch in his tent at night. He said: ‘St George’s Hub, they’re amazing… Even now I go there 3 times a week just to see them.’

Now being in a house again has helped Ryan to get back on his feet. He explained: ‘They sort of mentor you, but they’re not patronising about it. They look after you, but they want you to leave and move on. But there’s no time limit.’

Reflecting on his experience, Ryan says that it has affected his life in a profound way: “I could have been doing so much better if it hadn’t happened. It’s taken me so long to recover. I’ve been in this house for around 7 months now, and it’s only just now that I’m starting to do ok. The job I’ve got is ok, but it’s nowhere near what I was getting paid before. It ruins everything being homeless.’

His time in this house allowed him to reconcile with his mum, and he has since been able to move back in with her. He has also been able to find regular work for the last year in the catering industry, while being a great support to his mum and sister. He has maintained a relationship with St George’s, and is considering doing an Alpha course with them.”

*Not his real name.

Tips

• Don’t be nervous about prayer in supportive communities. It took a few years for St George’s to establish a structured time of prayer in Friday Connect, but it’s gone down a hit.
• When working with supported accommodation, ensure that your befrienders are trained up and ready before the tenants move in.
• If possible, try to meet your new tenants for supported accommodation before they move in.
• Supported accommodation and supportive communities tie together nicely – it provides additional support for both the tenant and the befriender.
• Not every story is going to be one of amazing life restoration and transformation, but it’s a ‘privilege to be able to share in the richness of [a] diverse community’.