Homeless Empowerment & Relational Transformation
Chichester Churches HEART for Homelessness
Who Are we...
HEART is a partnership of local churches in Chichester, who want to play our part in helping some of the most vulnerable people in Chichester. We know that together we can be more effective than alone. Most of our volunteers are drawn from local churches. Currently there are 30 volunteers from 14 different churches serving on HEART teams.
Our Journey...
A GROWING CHALLENGE ...
There is a growing challenge with Homelessness and Rough Sleeping in the UK. In January 2018 The BBC reported a 15% rise in homelessness in the last year and a doubling of numbers in the past 5 years; with figures drawn from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The City of Chichester is sadly no exception to this trend of year on year growth for the last seven years.
The local Christian community, like many others, were becoming more aware of people affected sleeping our streets as well as those living on the edge of homelessness. The City has a long history of the Churches caring for those in need. As the challenge escalated, the local churches felt the challenge to increase our provision and care. We agreed that as people of faith we could not ignore or pass by this problem.
The Result...
The result of this was the formation of HEART, which stands for Homeless Empowerment and Relational Transformation. It is about providing a safe place, where members of the homeless community can come, know that they can get a hot meal, and chat to someone with no pressure or risk of being judged. Just a place where they can be loved, have their basic needs met and find a reprieve from their circumstances, even if only for a short time each day.
IN PARTNERSHIP...
HEART is committed to work in partnership with a variety of different agencies for the benefit of those we are here to serve. This includes other charities as well as the statutory agencies.