Supporting Wycombe Homeless Connection through the crisis

As with most charities at the moment, Wycombe Homeless Connection (WHC) are desperate for funds with all of their normal fundraising activity on hold while the country is in lockdown. Whilst the charity is getting additional support from central and local government to ensure all homeless people have somewhere to live at the moment, this is set to change imminently with government subsidies evolving during the Covid-19 crisis.

WHC are continuing to urge the government to ensure that all rough sleepers are provided with safe accommodation while the alert level related to the pandemic is high, they are also having to help those without accommodation in the High Wycombe area.

While they are fighting for this support, April 2020 was the busiest month they have ever had! Despite huge upheaval and massive changes in how they work, more people than ever have been helped by their wide range of services.

Since the start of the pandemic:

• 79 people who didn’t have a home of their own came to WHC have been helped
• They have given food, clothing and other emergency items over 360 times

Their work to prevent homelessness continues to grow. The WHC homelessness prevention hotline continues to ring off the hook! Alongside fighting unfair and illegal evictions, which continue despite the changes in law relating to Covid-19, they are helping people fight for their right to housing. WHC is helping people get the social support they are entitled to, the social care assessments they need and much more. WHC has taken this type of homelessness prevention action well over 400 times in the first quarter of 2020!

Good news.

While Covid-19 is bringing so much pain and fear, there are small rays of hope that arise. The extended period of stability, living in one place, for our guests has proved to be life-changing for some.

Last week, WHC helped one man, a former rough sleeper who had lived on the streets of High Wycombe for many years and had been in temporary accommodation to find a permanent home.

He is not the only one who has decided he doesn’t want to return to the streets. WHC are working hard to help them take steps to a life they want while they are not facing the devastation rough sleeping brings.  This is just another reason WHC need to keep working with government, both nationally and locally, to continue to provide the type of support detailed above.

Charterhouse and in particular David White has long been a supporter of WHC and will continue to do so. To find out more contact us or Read more about WHC and how you can help them.