Advent Challenge 5: Serve a meal together as a family at a local homeless shelter

The Department of Levelling up released statistics on 13th October 2023 stating that ‘157,640 households were assessed as homeless’

There are 89 large towns in England and Wales with population sizes ranging between 75,000 to 225,000.

If the average household size is 2.36 people that suggests that 157,460 households represent 372,000 people. Official statistics elsewhere may contradict that number up or down but we are looking at two large towns homeless! Centrepoint suggests that ‘ALMOST 136,000 YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE FACED HOMELESSNESS THIS YEAR’.

If you want to look at our largest twenty cities then that number is equivalent to any one of the following being homeless: Bradford, Cardiff, Nottingham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Hull, Stoke on Trent, Southampton, Plymouth and Derby. There are seventy two cities in England and Wales. Sixty-one have populations that are less than the number of homeless people.

We have a city’s worth of people homeless!

In this day and age it seems hard to believe that Great Britain can have a homeless issue, that people can live side by side with us and not have somewhere safe to sleep at night. There are cracks in the system that people slip through, those asking for help where help is not always there and some people are scared of help for a number of reasons, sometimes they are the most vulnerable people and occasionally the hardest to assist.

Around the country amazing people are giving up time, resources and money to provide food for those in need over Christmas, to provide something special to light up an otherwise bleak and often scary time, to Make Life Special for someone who can’t do that without help.

Have a look out there to find someone near you that will be providing a meal to the homeless over Christmas. Can you assist with supplying food or other items they need? Can you volunteer in some way that will help?

Can you help Make Life Special?

Charities like The Single Homeless Project, a London based charity formed in 1975 by six homeless men, aim to provide meals at Christmas and, if time is short for you to get involved in a project directly, there is the option to donate (buy) a christmas dinner for someone.

Porchlight our chosen charity and our just giving page is here

St Mungo’s

Centrepoint – Ending Youth Homelessness

The Single Homeless Project – London

Crisis

Shelter

Statutory homelessness in England: financial year 2022-23

Do let us know how you get on, share with us on social media (you’ll find links on the right hand side of this page or at the bottom on mobile). We’d love to hear from you, to see some pictures and by all means share ideas for next year. We already have a growing list we couldn’t fit into this challenge.

Please continue to follow our Advent Challenge here

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