Adam is an Embedded Housing Support Worker within the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Adult Mental Health Team (AMHT). He works for Oxfordshire-based charity, Connection Support who support people at risk of, or experiencing homelessness, into stable accommodation.
His referrals come from Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, and Doctors on the AMHT whose patients are experiencing housing issues, and in this work St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity’s Vicar’s Relief Fund (VRF) is able to assist. For example, Adam was able to access £500 from the VRF for Charlotte*, one of his clients who was desperate to move to another area due to the level of trauma she had experienced in the town she was currently based in. Luckily, Charlotte got the opportunity to move to another area through a housing association, but unfortunately didn’t have enough money saved up to secure it. The housing association required a deposit and rent-in-advance, and luckily the VRF was able to provide £500 toward this.
This grant meant that Charlotte was quickly able to move to another area, closer to her support networks. This had a huge benefit for her mental health, and meant that she could focus on her recovery without the added financial pressures of saving up.
Charlotte* is not the only person that Adam’s works with who is struggling to afford a deposit, or even basic necessities. At the moment, he is seeing a huge increase in people struggling financially, getting into rent arrears, and needing to access food banks. On top of this, he’s observing a huge lack of social housing, resulting in many of the people he supports having to stay on waiting lists for inordinate amounts of time. This, he says, is when the VRF is crucial – it means that people are able to access private-rented accommodation, moving them more quickly out of temporary accommodation and into stable homes.
* Names have been changed to protect privacy.