Staff and clients of leading homelessness charity St Mungo’s welcomed a very special guest to their Grange Road service when His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent visited to officially open the recently refurbished project.

His Royal Highness, who is Patron of St Mungo’s, visited last week (21 March) and was given a tour of the building which is located in Southwark, London, before meeting residents and workers.

With funding from St Mungo’s, the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority, the Grange Road site has been completely refurbished to reflect St Mungo’s ethos that the design and quality of buildings and the principles of Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) support clients as they recover from homelessness.

The service delivery is funded by the City Corporation, and expands the range of accommodation, support and routes away from homelessness for those who have slept rough in the Square Mile.

Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s said: ‘’The transformation of Grange Road is an excellent example of what can be achieved by collaborative partnership working between St Mungo’s, the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority.

“At St Mungo’s it’s not just about getting people off the streets and into a bed, it’s also about providing an environment to recover. The last two years of hard work has resulted in this amazing flagship facility which will help support hundreds of clients for years to come.

“It was so wonderful that His Royal Highness was able to come and officially open the service and to spend some time with residents and staff.”

Grange Road resident Darren, who met with The Duke during his visit, said: “I’d been on the streets for two years before coming here, I was offered a room by St Mungo’s during the recent cold weather.

“It was a blessing, it is so nice to have somewhere clean and safe to stay. I really like my room, it’s great to have my own personal space.

“It was nice to meet His Royal Highness, it’s a bit different for me to be chatting to a member of The Royal Family!”

Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Community and Children’s Services Committee, Ruby Syed, said: “We are proud to invest £700,000 every year in the new Grange Road hostel, which is helping some of the Square Mile’s most vulnerable rough sleepers with complex needs.

“Working with our partners we are helping more people than ever before, supporting rough sleepers into long term accommodation, and providing access to mental health services, GP registrations, and dental care.”

Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development at the Greater London Authority, Tom Copley, said: “I am delighted that we’ve been able to help St Mungo’s to transform their flagship Grange Road service to better support homeless Londoners on their recovery journey.

“The Mayor and I are committed to tackling rough sleeping and through the hard work of Our City Hall team and charity partners we’ve managed to help a record 13,500 people as we work to build a fairer London for all.”

The new Grange Road facility includes a welcoming reception area, a choice of environments for staff and clients to interact in including confidential meeting rooms, break out spaces, training, communal areas and occasional dining areas.

There is a work zone, staff administration and wellbeing areas, two gardens, as well as 29 refurbished bed spaces some of which are en-suite with kitchenettes.

The new service will provide psychological and trauma informed support to clients with multiple needs who require intense and personalised support to positively progress as they recover from homelessness.

The service welcomed its first clients in November 2022 and currently accommodates 29 people.

To mark International Women’s Day (Wednesday 8 March) leading homelessness charity St Mungo’s is highlighting the reality of homelessness for women.

The charity has created a range of content which it will share on social media which illustrate some of the ways women adapt to being homeless and how it can lead to them being ‘hidden’ from official statistics. The posts feature the real-life experiences of some of the charity’s female clients.

According to the most recent figures only 15% of people rough sleeping across England on a typical night in 2022 were women, but we know many are hidden from the statistics.

Women’s homelessness often occurs after prolonged experiences of trauma, including physical, sexual and emotional abuse by those closest to them. Violence and abuse are both a cause and consequence of women’s homelessness, with women experiencing further abuse, exploitation and violence while homeless.

Jill Thursby, Women and Domestic Abuse Lead, St Mungo’s, said: “People often think of homelessness as a men’s issue, but we have found women also experience homelessness and face the additional burden of gender-based violence and abuse when on the streets.

“We know many women are ‘hidden homeless’ as it’s dangerous to be visible so they may seek shelter somewhere, squat or sofa surf with friends or family and therefore are missing from the official statistics.

“That is why we wanted to draw attention to this and highlight the reality for many women experiencing homelessness and International Women’s Day was the ideal time. Hopefully our ‘Invisible Women’ campaign with help inform people and challenge some stereotypes about this important issue.

“At St Mungo’s our teams are dedicated to advocating for the unique needs of women experiencing homelessness with local and national government, to improving services and working with our partners to make sure women get the support they need.”

At the charity:

• Women make up 24% of St Mungo’s clients in housing related support services
• Almost half of the female clients have experienced domestic violence.
• 19% had experienced abuse as a child, compared with 5% and 8% of men.

Sophia, St Mungo’s client, said about her times on the streets: “There was a couple of situations I put myself into, dangerous situations. Sleeping in the park sometimes. But in the park at night-time there was no lights so it’d be absolutely pitch black. So I’d be absolutely scared because you can’t see nothing. And I could hear a few noises but other than that, just horrible.

“Now I’m feeling great. Because my mood’s uplifted. St Mungo’s supported me. That’s what they do they keep people safe.”

St Mungo’s has supported more than 1,100 women with accommodation from October to December last year.

St Mungo’s services work with women at all stages of homelessness, from women in prison at risk of losing their tenancy, to women sleeping rough, living in hostels and moving into independence. Almost one third (31%) of St Mungo’s supported housing residents are women, the charity runs women-only accommodation projects in London and Bristol.

Follow @StMungo’s on Twitter to learn more about ‘Visible Women’.