St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity | Our work preventing homelessness

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity works to end homelessness in three key ways:

Helping individuals
Providing fast, practical grants that help people move away from homelessness and rebuild their lives.
Supporting Frontline Workers
Strengthening and connecting the UK-wide community of staff who support people experiencing homelessness, and using their insights to highlight what needs to change.
Investing in solutions
Funding projects that test new approaches, build evidence, and create better pathways out of homelessness.

Helping individuals

Through our emergency grants, we help people who are facing homelessness to access safe accommodation, in a matter of days. These grants provide rapid support for people who are experiencing or are at immediate risk of homelessness. Applied for by trusted frontline workers, the emergency grants offer a lifeline to people facing crisis, giving them the chance to rebuild their lives.

Supporting Frontline Workers

We believe that preventing and reducing homelessness depends on a strong, well-supported workforce. One of the most effective ways we help people experiencing homelessness is by supporting the staff who are working with them day in, day out. The Frontline Network connects staff across the UK to access new funding, share expertise and find new and innovative ways of providing meaningful support for anyone experiencing homelessness.

We run a free Annual Frontline Worker Conference each year, bringing together speakers and practitioners to share their experience, skills and insights with our Frontline Network community and other interested parties working in the homelessness sector.

Our Training Programme offers a range of learning opportunities, including the Training Fund for individual and group training, our schedule of online courses, and subsidised accredited training to help develop specialist skills.

We also gather insights directly from frontline staff through our annual Frontline Worker Survey. We use our survey results to inform the public and influence other funders about the realities and challenges of addressing homelessness. By listening to the voices of frontline workers, we can share their insights and recommendations quickly and authentically. This helps us advocate for more effective and compassionate solutions to end homelessness and help to make their voices heard. We also use this direct feedback about where needs are most urgent on the frontline to shape the support that we offer as a charity.

Investing in solutions

We invest in organisations and projects that are building better routes out of homelessness. Our Mental Health Fund supports organisations providing tailored mental health support for people facing homelessness. Frontline workers have consistently told us that mental health services are difficult to access. That’s why we fund specialist approaches to assist people who are struggling with their mental health and addiction or the effects of trauma and are at critical transition points in their housing journey.

Thanks to your support, the Frontline Fund has made over £1.5 million available to organisations that share our vision of everyone having a safe place to call home and the support they need. Previously, it supported six projects across the UK, providing vital services including access to healthcare, legal advice, and mental health support to help people move on from homelessness. The fund currently supports TGP Cymru, a children’s charity helping young people across North Wales who do not have a safe place to call home.

We have recently launched the Access to Accommodation Fund, providing funding for smaller, local organisations to develop and unlock new housing solutions. This programme will complement our other funds by supporting innovative, community-led approaches to address the shortage of suitable accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.

We are also testing direct cash support through the Personal Grants project. This innovative approach gives people the agency to choose what they need to stabilise their lives, whether that is transport, essential household items or help with tenancy costs.

Alongside this, we continue our long-standing funding relationship with The Connection at St Martin’s, whose day centre in central London provides practical help, specialist advice and health services for people sleeping rough.