Homeless Initiative

On any one night, more than 200 families and individuals find themselves without a permanent home, some sleeping rough, others in hostels or on sofas, across the county.

Kerry Headen, the Bath Abbey Homelessness Initiative Manager works with the different agencies supporting those who are homeless in BANES and by doing so, reaches out to hundreds, if not thousands of people, daily on the Abbey's behalf.

Just this year, we have been involved with a wide range of programmes and initiatives which not only tackle the direct consequences of homelessness, but also the underlying reasons why men and women are forced onto the streets. In fact, a number of projects are targeted at preventing people from becoming homeless.

A recent report showed that more than 1,800 households in BANES will be affected badly by benefit cuts. The Abbey has worked with Quids In! magazine and Clean Slate to offer vital information at the right time to those who will be most badly affected.

It is tempting to think that only a few ‘workshy’ families will be affected, but this could not be further from the truth, and a key part of our role is to dispel this myth to prevent many working, low income families from ignoring the changes and the potentially disastrous outcomes.

It can be hard to think of homeless people as individuals, so overwhelmingly negative are the media stereotypes we often see, which is why it is important for us to continue taking part in projects which help people look beyond the label 'homeless', with all its associations. This year’s ‘Think Different’ exhibition once again successfully helped us to show the homeless as real individuals with diverse skills and experiences, and was a vibrant reminder of the talents, creativity and resilience of the homeless in Bath.
Future plans include a much-needed and much-anticipated new Homelessness Guide, further projects on informing those at-risk about benefit changes and how we respond to these. We also hope to fund a pilot project together with the Deposit Bond scheme to support those searching for privately rented accommodation, a process which can be very overwhelming.