This month, our special feature was written by John Lowery, who is the Director of Services at CSAN Member Your Place. You can contact John at: communications@your-place.org.uk
About Your Place
Your Place works closely with each person who comes through their doors, guiding them to meet their own health, education and employment goals through accommodation, one-to-one and peer-led support. With specialist teams and a caring community around them, residents can build the self-belief, confidence and skills to reach a better place in their lives. Learn more by following this link to Your Place’s website.
Responding to Homelessness in Newham
Your Place is a homelessness charity based in the London Borough of Newham in East London, founded by the late Bishop Thomas McMahon, Bishop Emeritus of Brentwood Diocese. The charity has grown and evolved over the decades (becoming Caritas Anchor House before adopting the name Your Place), but its purpose has remained constant: to support people experiencing homelessness and to walk alongside them towards stability and independence.
Newham currently has the highest levels of homelessness in the UK. Latest figures show that 1 in 18 people in the borough are facing homelessness – a number few would have imagined even a decade ago. In a crisis of this scale, we believe we must listen carefully to those affected, recognising the expertise that comes from lived experience, and respond to the realities they describe.
Walking Alongside People Towards Stability
Your Place provides short-term accommodation for up to 153 people at any one time who are experiencing homelessness.
This includes 130 people in our short-term hostel service, and a further 23 people in The Harbour Project, our innovative accommodation which opened in 2025, providing long-term housing and support for people with extensive experiences of homelessness.
When Moving On Becomes the Hardest Step
Alongside the homelessness crisis sits a wider housing crisis, including a significant shortfall of affordable and social housing. For many residents, moving on from hostel accommodation into secure, independent housing presents a significant barrier.
We work in a person-centred, trauma-informed way, taking into account individual’s needs in our decision making. Each resident is not simply a service user, but a person with strengths, hopes and agency. We exist to solve homelessness one person at a time, and this principle shapes how we approach both our supported accommodation and resettlement.
Creative Pathways to Independent Living
In considering the needs of people moving on from our hostel accommodation, we recognised that without practical intervention, some would remain stuck in temporary provision, unable to access social and affordable housing.
Thanks to an incredibly generous donor within the Diocese, we’ve recently been able to purchase resettlement flats in Newham to house five people ready to leave hostel accommodation and move forward into independent living.
“I feel like I’m really starting my life”
Charlotte was one of the first to move into the resettlement flats. After becoming homeless at 19 when the landlord of the flat she shared with her mum needed it back at short notice, she experienced significant barriers to accessing accommodation due to her age.
Young, single adults are often a lower priority for council properties, and she wasn’t able to afford private rent. Our new resettlement flats provided an opportunity for Charlotte that wouldn’t otherwise exist – her own place of safety, stability and possibility.
She said, “When I walked through the front door of my new home for the first time, I actually fell to my knees! I was hugging all the staff who helped me move, telling them how grateful I was, and thanking God. It was such an emotional moment for me. Now that I’m here, I feel like I’m really starting my life.”
The flats being based within the borough means residents can maintain their communities, friendships and routes into work that they have already established. Stability of place is often foundational to rebuilding confidence and restoring independence.
Independence through Community
Resettlement is not simply about housing; it is about restoring hope and enabling people to flourish. When residents move on from our hostel accommodation, a resettlement worker remains alongside each person, assisting with practical steps such as setting up utilities, registering with a GP and dentist, and building connections. This ongoing support reflects our belief that independence is strengthened through community, not achieved in isolation.
Funmi, our resettlement worker, describes her role as “fighting the corner” of residents, advocating for them when systems feel overwhelming, and ensuring they do not face new challenges alone. This commitment seeks to prevent social isolation and to sustain the progress that residents have worked so hard to achieve.
Rooted in Faith, Sustained in Community
Your Place is deeply rooted in the Newham community and within the Diocese of Brentwood. From our founding under Bishop Thomas’ leadership to the present day, we have been sustained by the generosity and support of parishes, organisations and individuals who share our belief that homelessness can and should be addressed with practical action and community.
The compassion shown to people experiencing homelessness in Newham reminds us that community is a source of strength and hope, and that addressing homelessness is not only a policy challenge but a moral one.
Restoring Hope – One Person at a Time
The resettlement flats – made possible thanks to community – are a small but significant step in responding to the wider housing crisis. By combining accommodation with continued support, we aim to create lasting change: helping people not just into housing, but towards stability, independence and renewed hope – one person at a time.
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