The Passage Resource Centre supports people experiencing homelessness in Westminster, providing a safe and welcoming environment where, as well as specialist support, their primary needs can be met. This includes providing showers, food, clothing and laundry services, all of which are vital in supporting those who are rough sleeping or insecurely housed.
Our Community Services team runs a range of vital services to support those experiencing homelessness. Alongside the work done by the Resettlement team in the Resource Centre, we have a range of other teams working together to support client needs. The Employment team supports clients who are interested in finding work, entering education or participating in volunteering by providing tailored 1-2-1 support to those who come to our service. They also run a variety of groups and activities in the Resource Centre designed to better prepare clients for employment and to support them to sustain employment.
The Advice & Advocacy team supports clients across a range of needs including welfare rights, modern slavery, migrant support and immigration. They advocate for the clients they support and who feel that their voices are not heard.
The Engagement & Outreach team combines our Health & Wellbeing and Community Intervention services, supporting clients both within our resource centre and in the local area, where they deliver outreach support to those rough sleeping. In this way, we are able to offer holistic support to those facing homelessness, moving away from treating health, addiction, substance use and mental health separately.
We also integrate client perspectives into our thinking. Our Expert by Experience Facilitator leads on this group, helping us to involve people who have experienced homelessness in how we manage The Passage and our decision making across a range of levels within the service.
In the year April 2023 - March 2024, The Passage:
-Supported over 2,140 people who were experiencing or at risk of homelessness
-served 34,588 meals to those who visited our Resource Centre in Victoria
-prevented 844 people from becoming homeless, through a variety of our services
-helped 325 people into emergency, temporary and long-term accommodation.
The Passage has continued to develop innovative and creative services that help to prevent and end homelessness for those who come to our doors. This has taken place at a time when we are seeing the highest number of people who are street homeless in over a decade, which is both deeply disappointing and deeply concerning, especially as over half are reported as sleeping out for the first time. Despite this unprecedented rise, The Passage has prevented 844 people from becoming street homeless through our Housing Solutions Service and No Night Out scheme. This is 326 more people that we helped than in the previous 12-month period. In our other projects, we have also achieved incredible outcomes, for example, providing routes off the street and into sustainable employment. Each service and indeed every aspect of our work across the organisation is aligned to our values, this ensures that everyone using our services experiences the dignity and respect they deserve. Our pioneering work to evidence the links between modern slavery and homelessness continues to bring about systemic change and we are now sharing our learnings and best practice with partners internationally. It has also been immensely pleasing to see the real and tangible outcomes in our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and quality standards throughout the organisation with the launch of our Excellence for All quality programme.
We are committed to creating a safe, non-judgmental space for everyone here at The Passage, regardless of who they are. There is an expectation that volunteers understand this and behave accordingly towards people using our services, other volunteers, visitors and members of staff.
1) We are committed to preventing homelessness happening in the first place by intervening quickly and creatively before people reach crisis point.
2) We are committed to achieving long-lasting and sustainable outcomes.
3) We are committed to collaborative partnership working across all sectors and to shaping The Passage into an organisation that truly embeds Co-production; involving the people we work with in everything that we do.
4) We are committed to measuring and sharing our impact and effectiveness and developing quality standards across all that we do.
5) We are committed to implementing robust infrastructure to ensure we have a resilient organisation that can respond quickly to those who need us most.
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Our Opportunities
As a Clothing Store & Laundry Volunteer you will be performing a pivotal role in assisting clients to access primary services, and creating a warm and friendly atmosphere. This is often the first step for clients in their recovery from homelessness.
