Starbucks Coney Street

For the public benefit, to prevent or relieve the poverty of people who are homeless or in financial hardship by providing accommodation, essential items, information and advice to individuals in need and or other charities and organisations who are also working to prevent or relieve poverty. We run a 17 bedroom supported accommodation project in Medway, facilitate a Homeless Winter Night Shelter annually from December to April, hold a weekly soup kitchen which sees over 100 people attend, deliver food parcels and homestarter packs to people who have been referred to us by external agencies (eg social services. domestic abuse organisations, housing etc) We have a passionate team of more than 50 volunteers, and a dedicated staff team who work to support the residents in our accommodation.

SASH is a registered charity preventing homelessness in young people aged 16 to 25 throughout York and surrounding areas. When young people are facing homelessness, we can offer a spare room in the home of a trained host and support to move forward. Putting a roof over a young person’s head solves the immediate problem, but young people who become homeless tend to have very complex issues. We need to solve these too if we are to prevent homelessness in the long term. We work intensively with those we help, our hosts and a multitude of other agencies in order to achieve this. This financial year (to April 2025) this amounts to £500,000. The only way we can achieve this is with the help of people like you who raise money for our work. What matters is the change we bring about for and within each individual. Most of the young people we help come from disadvantaged backgrounds and the issues which led to them becoming homeless will have built up over many years. They have often developed mental health issues and have poor educational attainment. They might have been in and out of care, or be an Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child. Unpicking and addressing these issues takes commitment and intensive personal support for every young person who comes to us. By working with our hosts and other partners, this is what we achieve. “My mum died when I was 10. The difference that SASH has made has been unimaginably good. It was a very supporting environment … It has given me the space the time and the support to try and figure out who I was, who I am now.” Jessie These young people thought that they would never have stability, or anyone who would listen to them and help them. They leave our service with confidence and aspirations for their future. Our hosts are the foundation of our work. We currently have some amazing hosts helping us, but sadly we still occasionally have to turn young people away because there is more demand for places than we can offer. Volunteering as a host is an opportunity for you to help a young person through a difficult period in their life. There is no special requirement, our hosts come from all walks of life. You just need to have a spare room and want to help young homeless people. You won’t be on your own – we provide full training and support, and payment to help with the costs of hosting.