homeless

On Friday 12th April, 18 intrepid people slept out to raise over £4,500 for St Petrock’s, Exeter’s local homelessness charity, as part of the charity’s first ever #BigNightOut.

The event, in which people were invited to “sleep rough” in their gardens, sheds, on sofas or in the countryside, aimed both to raise awareness of homelessness and the challenges faced by rough sleepers in Exeter, and to encourage people to give financially towards the cost of running the vital services St Petrock’s provides to help rough sleepers survive and find a way off the streets.

Rowan...

An Exeter-based homelessness charity is inviting people to sleep out under the stars in April, to help raise money for its work with rough sleepers.

But St Petrock’s Big Night Out is a sleep-out with a difference, as participants will bed down in safe locations such as their gardens, garages or workplaces, rather than in one central place.

St Petrock’s Director, Peter Stephenson, who will be settling down in his shed for the night, said: “People’s experiences on Friday 12 April won’t compare with the physical and mental trauma of being homeless of course. However, it’ll...

Exeter-based Hair at The Academy (HATA) is making waves of positive change for those who need it most. They will shine a spotlight on supporting people experiencing homelessness in the city with their remarkable work in the community by extending their free education provision to empower those most in need.

Following the resounding success of their pilot projects where they ran hairdressing and barbering training courses for homeless people at their salon in Kimberly Road, Exeter, a registered VTCT Centre of Excellence - one of the UK’s market-leading vocational and technical...

Twenty rough sleepers took advantage of extra measures to bring them inside in Exeter during the recent cold spell, figures have shown.

And nine of those have now found more permanent accommodation, the City Council has revealed.

The Severe Weather Emergency Protocol was in place for 17 days between 5 and 22 January, as overnight temperatures regularly dipped below freezing.

The Protocol makes extra emergency accommodation available to rough sleepers.

Cllr Martin Pearce, Lead Councillor for Communities and Homelessness Prevention, said activating the...

Local homeless charity Julian House announces the return of the annual Big Exeter Sleep-Out event at St James Park Football Stadium, in partnership with Exeter City Community Trust. The event takes place on the 22nd March 2024, and the charity is inviting members of the public to sleep outside for one night; to help support those forced to sleep out every night in the city and across Devon.

Julian House is a South-West-based charity that helps vulnerable, homeless, and at-risk people get back on their feet and rebuild their lives. The charity operates over 40 distinct projects,...

Four people who are rebuilding their lives after being homeless feature in a moving Exeter homelessness charity’s Christmas fundraising campaign.

The two-minute film focuses on the question of how it feels to be homeless, especially at Christmas. “They came along and lifted me up” is one of the many moving statements made in the video, that was launched across social and traditional media on Thursday morning (23 November).

The numbers of people sleeping rough in Exeter remain critically high

Alfie, who lived on the streets for eight years after growing up in the...

DONATE A COAT, WARM A HEART! Safestore is Supporting WrapUp Exeter to keep the Homeless Warm This Winter Donations can be made from 21 October to 4 November at Safestore Exeter

Safestore , the UK’s largest self storage company, is urging people across Exeter to donate good quality, unwanted coats to ‘WrapUp Exeter’ which is being run by the Rotary Club from 21st October to 4th November with various drop off points available.

This winter will mark the 12th year of the UK’s largest self storage company’s support for the WrapUp campaign which began in London and to date has...

An Exeter-based homelessness charity has been shortlisted for a high-profile national award, for its essential work to support rough sleepers in the city.

St Petrock’s is one of 17 finalists that fought off competition from almost 4,000 hopeful applicants, to reach the public vote stage in a bid to be crowned National Lottery Project of the Year 2023.

Homelessness has been increasing in Exeter in recent times, with the number of rough sleepers doubling between 2021 and 2022 and continuing to rise.

Twice every weekday, the team walks up to five miles to provide...

Devon County Council leader John Hart is pausing plans to stop funding support for homeless people.

The council currently provides financial support to organisations helping people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless even though it does not have a statutory responsibility to do so.

The proposal to cut the discretionary spending was originally made to help the council balance its books in response to soaring demand for its statutory services.

The council’s contracts with providers will now be extended until the end of March 2024.

In the...

Homelessness charities providing vital services within Devon have today issued a plea to Devon County Council to reject proposed cuts to homelessness funding ahead of a special meeting of the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.

Devon County Council is proposing to cut £1.5m from its Adult Homelessness Prevention funding as part of what its Finance Director labelled a “re-prioritisation”. This funding is shared between five charity providers of services and could result in the closure of five homeless hostel services across the county and a service which works with people to...