Positive Pathways
Since 2018 our Positive Pathways project has seen Together Network Core Members work with local delivery partners in Yorkshire and the North East.
Positive Pathways is an outreach programme giving people experiencing homelessness personalised support and guidance. Through this project hundreds of homeless people have been given one-to-one personal support, accessed a safe community space or even moved into short or long-term housing.
Thank you to the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation for supporting this work.
Our delivery partners in Yorkshire and the North East continue their work helping homeless people find safe sustainable accommodation and providing wrap-around support.
“G came to us after being evicted illegally from his property due to not being able to pay his rent. He had been living in a tent and was quite low. We took him into the night shelter for a few weeks. He was adamant he wanted to work and not try and claim benefits and as InnChurches Storehouse takes on volunteers, our Positive Pathway worker asked G if he would like to volunteer. He soon proved to be a great support to the work we do and we’ve been mentoring and managing G to help him regain a sense of purpose. Because of the Covid-19 crisis we’ve been expanding and were able to offer G a paid role with InnChurches. Now he has got settled, paid employment and is contributing to the economy. And he has a lovely home (which he looks after meticulously) and is a lot happier and hopeful. His circumstances have changed 180 degrees. He is a great worker and we are lucky to have him.”
InnChurches Project, Bradford
JOE, WHO IS RECOVERING FROM HOMELESSNESS.When you’re homeless, people invariably just walk straight past you. They don’t even acknowledge your existence.
[The volunteers] helped me so much with everything I needed, whether it be information about housing...getting breakfast and dinner...somebody to talk to.
After his mother died, Joe was left without a support network. “That was the life-changing moment where I just ended up homeless."
“My mum died and slowly everybody moved away.”
“Then the atmosphere [in the neighbourhood] was getting very extreme and intolerant of different cultures. Even though I lived here
for 20 years, it didn’t feel like my home.”
Shelter is just one of the things that homelessness took from Joe, before it destroyed his relationships, health, and self-esteem. There were times when Joe had no-one to talk to, nothing to eat, and it felt like he had no place to belong. Hunger and rough-sleeping were heart-breaking for Joe, but feeling invisible and alone was worse.
“They were all saying, ‘No, we haven’t got a place for you.’”
“When you’re homeless, people invariably just walk straight past you. They don’t even acknowledge your existence.”
If we’re going to end poverty and homelessness, we have to remove the stigma around it. We have to talk about it. And we have to be prepared to act.
In his darkest moments, Joe relied on the support delivered through CUF’s Positive Pathways programme – receiving the personal care he needed to process what was happening to him and find long-term solutions.
“When I found them, that’s when my life changed.”
“[The volunteers] helped me so much with everything I needed, whether it be information about housing...getting breakfast and dinner...somebody to talk to.”
“The human interaction...it was invaluable to me. It really did put me back on my feet.”