CEO Sleepout Nottingham

Focus on Emmanuel House

Along with many others I talk with you may be noticing the increased visibility of homelessness on our streets in Nottingham.? But, in addition, there is the unseen homelessness of families who are accommodated in hotels.?

The number of people experiencing homelessness is increasing.?

In the period January through to March the single night street count of people sleeping rough were 29, 42 and 21.? In July through to September the number was 56, 57 and 47.

The average number of rough sleepers counted on the single night count between January and September this year is 42.

And, did you know, there are more working people experiencing homeless – for example people working but sleeping in their cars.

Causes for the increase include the increase in rents – Nottingham is the most expensive area to rent in in the East Midlands.? This includes the number of people who had to leave their long term rented properties because they became unaffordable.? Accommodation has become scarcer.

Cost of living crisis – alongside rent increases in utilities and the general impact of inflation makes people more financially vulnerable.?? Nottingham has a high rate of non-disposable income anyway.

The charity Shelter in January this year released some data stating the rate of homelessness as being 1 in every 201 people.? This is the highest rate in the East Midlands.??This data is based on the 2021 census.?

But the population of Nottingham at present is 300,000 of which 100,000 are students.? If students are removed from the general census data then that would make the rate of homelessness in the more permanent resident population much higher.?

It gives an insight into the depth and scale of the problem.

Emmanuel House Support Centre is one of three local charities supported through the funds raised by the CEO Sleepout in Nottingham. The other two are The Friary and Notts County Foundation which I will cover in a later article.

So what role does Emmanuel House have in responding to the challenges.

Emmanuel House is integral to the homelessness prevention and solutions systems in Nottingham.

They provide the only drop-in provision of its kind in the city.? They have recently increased the service towards pre-pandemic levels and are open 5 mornings a week.

One of the challenges amongst the rough sleeping population is a new reticence to engage with services so they are looking to expand their drop-in by piloting an early morning breakfast service the people can directly access, for which EH are applying for funding.? Services such as the Street Outreach Team and Homeless Health Team can also be present with the intention of enhancing the possibility of engagement.

The results of ‘Everybody In’ during the pandemic were fantastic.? All rough sleepers were offered single room accommodation.? Over 15 months Emmanuel House found accommodation solutions for 179 people.

Why was it so successful?

Safety, warmth, diet and nutrition, sleep, support, community and access to health services.? Some people made their own recovery just because they had their basic needs met.? Maslow has a point! ?

We cannot underestimate the importance of basic human needs.?

Other services Emmanuel house provides:

• Mental health service
• A culturally specific service
• Winter Shelter – in 2023 - 58 people into accommodation in 6 months.
• Wellbeing support team – specific service for women
• Currently waiting to hear regarding funding for a 7 bed accommodation unit for emergency respite accommodation.? Emmanuel House also have ambitions to convert two of their floors into single room accommodation

1st Qtr this year – EH moved 19 into accommodation solutions.

Total last year 185 into accommodation solutions (61 into the shelter).

An example of support:

29-year-old Hafsa has two children.

Family relationship breakdown – left the family home.

When Hafsa spoke to Housing Aid, they arranged for her to stay in hotels with her two children. She was travelling between different hotels whilst working part-time, often not knowing which area they’d be staying in that night. Hafsa’s five-year-old daughter attends a Special Educational Needs School for children with autism and it was becoming increasingly difficult to get there. Hafsa was suffering with depression and was finding the situation incredibly hard to deal with as the family had nowhere to call home.

Kalwant met up with Hafsa and immediately started working to find appropriate, long-term accommodation for the family. Kalwant gave her a lot of emotional support, as she needed someone who would listen and empathise.

Kalwant found a two-bedroom flat that would also provide the family with a support worker. Two weeks after they visited the flat, Hafsa and her children moved in. Kalwant is helping Hafsa to maintain her tenancy, supporting with her council tax, providing further emotional support and finding funding to help furnish the flat.

With Kalwant’s help, Hafsa is much happier. Her children have their own room and the family finally have their own space.

Emmanuel House need all the help they can get to continue to offer their services

This is where you come in!

Signing up to this year’s CEO Sleepout in Nottingham will really make a difference not only to Emmanuel House, but also to the two other local charities supported - The Friary and Notts County Foundation.

The bottom line is they can’t do what they do without the involvement of people you.?

Want to take part?

I’m the CEO Sleepout Ambassador for Nottingham and your local point of contact.?

The date for this year’s sleepout is 9th November so there’s no time to loose!

We have some fantastic business people from #Nottingham already signed up so you're going to be in great company.

All you need is a big heart and a sleeping bag!

I really look forward to hearing from you.

Message me directly or comment on this article and I'll get right back to you with all the details. Thank you!