Homelessness Overview

 'Harrogate is lovely'.  That’s what everyone says and it’s true of course.  From the incredible greenery of the Stray, the town atmosphere, the amazing shops and restaurants, to the beautiful buildings in the town, Valley Gardens, the friendliness of the people, the list is endless.  It’s no wonder that the town always features very highly in the best places to live category of surveys that are conducted from time to time.  That’s not to say of course that the town is perfect and like all places it has its problems and homelessness is one of the problems as it is across the UK.

We see homeless can be caused by a variety of factors such as

There are also a core of ‘hard to house’ clients who access who have more complex issues and housing histories including entrenched rough sleepers.

By working with the other homeless agencies Lifeline works to create a sustainable future for residents who have been close to losing everything. 

Lifeline provides move-on accommodation for those people who have been formerly homeless, to equip them to be able to live independently.  We house men and women between the ages of 18 and 70.  The vast majority of our residents have a local connection.  Intensive housing management is provided to ensure residents maintain their accommodation.  Lifeline is on call  'out of hours' for emergency issues days a week from 8am to 8pm.

Lifeline provides support to monitor and improve physical/mental health, wellbeing and maintain long-term recovery from addiction.  Residents are visited at least twice a week, once for their weekly support meeting by their support worker. We agree support plans with all our residents and these will include volunteering and other opportunities including college education.  We create work opportunities, such as through a course we organised with Harrogate Town AFC, and at any time full agency interaction is very important.

Shortly after Lifeline started housing residents we began our fortnightly ‘lunch club’. Georgie Good cooked this meal for our residents for the first 7 years of our existence,  which resulted in her receving a voluntary award and an invitation to Buckingham Palace for a royal garden party! The meal is always cooked by staff and/or volunteers, and is now held at Elim Church.  As we serve this meal with love our new residents begin to appreciate that Lifeline is meaning much more for them than just a room in a shared house.  As they settle into this routine they then build relationships with Lifeline staff, volunteers and other Lifeline residents, helping to build up their self-confidence and self-esteem, and increase their support network. As time has moved on we have used the Lunch Cub as a foundational building block to enhance our service offering, which now includes the following

•A weekly ‘Peer Support Group’, also at Elim Church, hosted by an ex-resident who is now a staff member of Lifeline
*Monthly ‘wellbeing activity’ trips out (eg we have had recent trips to York Go-karting, to Fountains Abbey, Saltburn, Football, Swinsty Reservoir, Knaresborough boating, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Ten pin Bowling, Climbing Centre, annual Christmas meal)
•Certifcate level educational classes in conjunction with North Yorkshire Adult Learning
*Internal courses for residents (They Money Course and the Tenancy Ready Course)
*Weekly art classes with Georgie Good
*Psychotherapy counselling for three residents at any one time
•Fruit and Veg deliveries from Roots and Fruits
•Two Gym/Swim/Sauna passes at ‘The Hydro’
•A dedicated support worker for each resident with monthly house meetings and a half-yearly Resident Committe for co-production purposes
•Bespoke meaningful activity programmes are developed (at least 10 hours) for all residents
•Crisis Loans are provided for residents in need
•Amazing provision from a sponsorship from ‘Cook Harrogate’ who supply is with a large number of ready meals that we distribute baed on need
•Fully furnished homes with all bills taken care of
•High speed Internet in each house
•Dental treatment via ‘Dentaid’ and their amazing van and staff – 10 residents were given potentially life-saving treatment in one day!
•Repairs and maintenance on the properties provided quickly
•Follow-on support to leavers – “you were still there for me after I left”, one former resident reminded us recently
•Accountability – drug testing & partnership working with other agencies
*All support is with a community and family person-centered, strengths based approach

We have seen so many residents lives significantly change for the better as they start to enjoy the Lifeline family atmosphere, and with the increased confidence they gain from this, this so often leads into other opportunities, with work, volunteering, education, and ultimately their own independent accommodation.