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Dear Supporters,
We're full.
As I write, the hostel is at its peak capacity and our six 2-bedroom Arkangel houses are full, so that 37 people who would otherwise be homeless are under our care. The problem is that we're nearly always full. Our hostel occupancy rate for October was 98%, or to put it another way, the average number of beds occupied each night was 24.5 (in a 25 bed hostel).
Whilst it is extremely disappointing to have to say 'no' to enquiries because we're full, it isn't something that we can do anything about in isolation. The problem is much bigger an issue than one organisation can tackle on its own. But we play our part - meetings with Wirral's homelessness team, feeding into the review of Wirral's homeless strategy, and reviewing our procedures to see that we get the most out of the scant resource we have i.e. emergency bedspaces.
The answer is to do two things:-
1. Prevent more people becoming part of the homeless group.
2. Take people out of the homeless group.
We (the Ark) can't do anything about the first, because that's not what we do. That isn't a cop out, it's simply a statement of fact. What we do, and, thanks to our hugely committed, expert staff, do well, is provide accommodation and work with residents to 'move their lives forward'. I believe that if we diversified into entirely different spheres, e.g. prevention, then there is a real risk that we end up doing a number of things poorly.
But we can do something about the second. Our hostel staff, and our three Arkangel support workers, constantly strive to get residents to face and address any issue they have, and to move steadily towards independent living. Part of this is informal - winning confidence, not judging, befriending, challenging where necessary, supporting.
The other part is formal. I've mentioned previously our twice weekly workshops, literacy, numeracy, and art classes.
We plan to build on this, so that the Ark hostel becomes more than a bed, meals and warmth, into a place of real change. Our next immediate step is a link up with a training organisation specialising in outdoor activities (thanks Kevin).
This evolvement to a place of change brings its own challenges - not least what happens to those residents who won't work with us. How long do we give someone? how many chances? before we ask them to leave to make room for the person at the head of the queue at our door, who may grasp the opportunity the Ark offers to lift them out of homelessness and into our world.
Gritty subjects, these.
Sincerely,
Bob Jarvis
Chief Executive
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