Welcome to our Lifeline Harrogate website
Lifeline was birthed out of my wife Georgie and my own (Carl) desire to help homeless people and to serve the Lord Jesus in all we do. This started for us in the winter of 2011/12 when meeting Martin, an alcoholic, who was sat in the tunnel in Bower Street in Harrogate.. We talked to him and he told us he was homeless and that he needed some money to get into the hostel (this was of course not true as we would learn later on!). He was really dishevelled, was drinking, seemed extremely low and looked very cold. It really moved us both to think that we were going home to a nice warm house and here was a homeless man sat out in the cold, and in all places a prosperous town like Harrogate!
I met with Green Pastures (they are a national Christian housing social enterprise) around the same time, and realised that by partnering with them we could actually buy a house for the poor and marginalised to live in.
We spoke to Harrogate Homeless Project who liked the fact that their clients would have a route out of the hostel and be able to live independently, but with support.
In July of 2012 we had a 'Launch the Vision' meeting at Kairos Church. From that meeting we were able to gather together a team of committed Christian volunteers, a board of directors and the message began to spread about Lifeline.
In October 2012 we found the right house and an offer was accepted. Our first house completed' on 11th January 2013. We then set to work on renovating the house and we were amazed by the Church volunteers who came in and freely gave up their time to bring the house up to an exceptional standard. We found a builder to help us convert the house to a house of multiple occupancy., and we were able to house our first three residents on 19th February 2013.
We completed on our second house in the same year in the December of 2013, and since then have steadily added houses to our portofilio, and we now have seven houses and can house twenty one residents at any one time, with one additional emergency bed-space.
Lifeline became a Registered Charity in 2012. We have been so encouraged by how people across the churches of Harrogate have offered us their support. We do not force our faith of anyone and always respect where people are at in terms of their own spiritual journey, or none. A place in Lifeline is in never conditional and hence we house people without discrimination or favour.
Since housing people over 12 years ago Lifeline has provided over 52,000 nights of accommodation in our houses. This has provided our residents with a place of security and rest, with them always knowing that we are there to support them, and that they have a place they can call 'home', with the dignity of having their own front door key.
We have housed 157 men and women over that period and 85% of the leavers have left Lifeline with a positive move-on option. 55% have found paid work whilst with Lifeline, 70% have actively engaged with their support plan and 75% have engaged in meaningful activity.
We continue to have a vision to 'enlarge the place of our tent' (Isaiah 54:2) and have regular staff meetings and away days to discuss ideas so all our staff are involved in our future.
Thank you for showing an interest in what we are doing.
Please note you can see our latest accounts here:
Carl Good
CEO Lifeline Harrogate
November 2025
Green Pastures
Lifeline partnered with Green Pastures in 2012 and since then Green Pastures have bought seven residential three bedroom houses for Lifeline so that we can house people who wish to move out from hostel style accommodation into a more permanent dwelling with a view to eventually moving out into fully independent living as Lifeline supports them. The biggest compliment we can give Green Pastures is that all of these houses feel like they are Lifeline's even though they are owned by Green Pastures.
