Our Background
Homeless Action was established in September 1997 for the provision of accommodation and support.
Initially, the charity just had three hostels, covering 62 beds and eight self-contained moved on units in Blackpool. Fast forward to 2023 and we are now celebrating our 26th year of operation, having supported over 10,000 clients. In Blackpool, we now operate three hostels with an additional 43 move-on flats spread over nine sites. In addition to Blackpool, we operate an additional homelessness project in Sunderland, running a 26-bed homeless hostel with 40 additional move-on flats.
Back in 1997 we started with just six staff and now across all locations we employ over 40 staff in various roles.
Our vision is to relieve the poverty faced by homeless, vulnerable persons in need.
To achieve this we offer accommodation, support, and education to all our clients aged 18 and over, to empower them to develop the necessary skills which will enable them to live independently.
The dedicated staff and volunteer’s main objective involves creating a strategy to encourage our clients to take control of their own lives, by increasing self-esteem, improving motivation, and raising levels of confidence by offering practical support, advice, assistance, advocacy, representation, and counselling. We work closely with a variety of clients with high support needs, such as drug/alcohol dependence, mental health issues, learning difficulties, ex-offenders and entrenched rough sleepers.
The team is committed to empowering clients, supporting them through their journey and preventing repeat homelessness in the future. The team is committed to treating individuals with dignity and respect and are determined to offer the opportunity and the support necessary to encourage and to enable personal growth and self-development, regardless of gender; marital status; sexual orientation; ethnic origin; religious belief; disability; age or political allegiance.
The charity understands that it takes more than a roof over someone’s head to end homelessness. People experiencing homelessness often face a number of issues, commonly involving feelings of isolation, mental health problems, and drug or alcohol use and we strive to support people as they take control of their own lives. The role is to foster the right environment, so people can bring about their own changes, in their own way. The approach is underpinned by three values – empowerment, collaboration and integration and these values are similar to those of person-centred, strengths-based and co-production approaches which are achieved by:
- Placing importance on the service user’s perspective and priorities, as in a person-centred approach.
- Focusing on aspects of life that are going well in addition to areas of difficulty, as in a strengths-based approach.
The service user is seen as an active agent in their own life and a valuable source of expertise and knowledge rather than a passive sufferer of an affliction that the professional, with their expertise and knowledge, will cure.
In order to achieve our mission of supporting the most vulnerable in society, we offer a number of services. These include accommodation, support, substance use support, mental health advocacy and work, skills and employment training. We also work closely with local government to shape policy and pathways and fundraise to help us carry out our work.
We work closely with the following regulatory bodies;
Charity Commission
The CC regulates our work as a registered charity and ensure that we are transparent and accountable.
Fundraising Regulator
The FR is an independent regulator of charitable fundraising tasked with restoring public trust in fundraising, following the cross-party review of fundraising self-regulation back in 2015
Living Wage Foundation
The LWF are the organisation at the heart of the independent movement of businesses and people that campaign for the idea that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The LWF celebrate and recognise the leadership of responsible employers who choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum.
Information Commissioners Office
The ICO’s role is to uphold information rights in the public interest. Homeless Action handle personal data from clients, supporters, staff and volunteers, so we are registered as a “data controller” with the ICO. We have certain obligations for how we handle personal data, ensuring we keep it safe and only share or use it with permission.
One of our key values is that our work is open, accountable and transparent and we work hard to achieve these values. However, if you feel that the service we have provided has not been to the standard that you would expect, we are always keen to learn from your complaints, suggestions or comments. Please email us at complaints@homelessaction.org.
62
Blackpool Hostel beds
43
Blackpool Flats
26
Sunderland Hostel beds
40
Sunderland Flats
Charity Information
We recognise that as a registered Charity our continued success is dependent not only upon the trust and confidence of both statutory and voluntary organisations in our work but also that of the public. We believe that this trust can be built through being open, transparent and accountable. It is our aim to provide relevant and reliable information to in a way that is unbiased, comparable, understandable and completely focused on our stakeholder’s legitimate needs.
One way in which we try to be transparent and accountable is by completing an annual Standard Information Return (SIR) about our work, along with our Annual Accounts, which are submitted each year to the Charity Commission. Our last 6 years financial accounts are available to view and download below. Previous years accounts are also available upon written request. Alternatively, you can go directly to the Charity Commission’s website, by clicking on the link below and searching Homeless Action using our Registered Charity Number: 1063208.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission
Homeless Action’s Memorandum and Articles of Association sets out the legal framework in which the Charity operates. They can only be amended by agreement by the Charity’s membership at the AGM, held in association with the Annual Meeting.