Happy New Year to everyone at St Martin’s. I hope everyone has had the opportunity to pause and recharge over the last few weeks. Like many people, I find New Year a time for reflection on the year that’s gone past as well as providing an opportunity to plan for the coming 12 months.
One of my most enjoyable moments towards the end of 2022 was my visit to the Theology group in December to discuss homelessness with Revd Dr Sam Wells. We started by exploring the many reasons why there’s such a strong link between homelessness and Christmas. We went on to talk about the reality behind many of the messages circulated by homelessness charities during the festive season.
The thing about homelessness is that it happens all year round, not just at Christmas. However, the festive season brings great attention and with it, funding. This provides us with the resources to do our work every month, not just in December.
At St Martin’s, both The Connection and the St Martin’s Charity have considered carefully how to talk about our work. We emphasise the strengths, skills and resilience that people bring to their housing crisis. We also reflect the importance of working “with” people not “for” people to address their situation. Take a look at our communications materials and compare them with other homelessness charities and see what you think.
We were delighted to welcome many congregation members to The Connection to talk about our strategy last Autumn and as we move into January, we are finalising our plans. Our main focus will be on building strong, lasting relationships of trust with people who have been living on the streets for a long time, helping them to move into accommodation and a long term home.
Rough sleeping is on the rise again in London (up 24% on this time last year) and we have work to do. Although our job is going to be busy, we are determined to reduce rough sleeping numbers in central London over the coming 5 years. We really appreciate the support from everyone in the St Martin’s community and you can follow our progress on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Pam Orchard
