A BRIEF UPDATE

2022 was a momentous year for LDHAS; not only did we celebrate 30 years of operation out of our base in Edwards Street, but we bought a new building.

Refurbishments on 2 Aalborg Place began in January 2023 and we will be moving to our new home later this year. The building, which is on three floors, is in excellent condition and is centrally located, but lacks the facilities to meet the needs of street homeless and vulnerably housed people. A kitchen, shower, laundry facilities, a medical room, meeting room and offices for LDHAS and visiting organisations are being installed.

The latter are vital to the services that we offer as the ‘homeless hub’ (a one stop shop) has been an increasingly prominent feature of our operation in recent years. The organisations which work closely with us at Edward Street such as Changing Futures, Red Rose Recovery, Calico, The Well and Citizens Advice, to name but a few, will all have office space available to them, plus the meeting room.

In such difficult financial times, it is not surprising that our client footfall continues to rise. In the Financial year 2021/22. LDHAS supported 121 people with a aggregate footfall of 2338. In 2022/23 the numbers rose to 136 and 2657 respectively. It is notable that in recent months, there have been an increasing number of enquiries from people becoming homeless for the first time.

Welcome to the Lancaster & District Homeless Action Service 

The project was set up in 1987 to provide a service for local people in housing poverty. The Homeless Action Service was built in 1992 with a considerable amount of incredible support from local people. We became a registered charity in 2002.

We are a day centre based in Edward Street in Lancaster, providing housing advice to the street homeless and those in housing poverty.

Our clients are ordinary people whose circumstances have altered their way of life, people who have been in care, suffered a relationship breakdown, have addictions, come out of the services, or come out of prison.

Refuge from the Ravens: Wordsworth re-written by homeless Britain was an exhibition some of our clients helped write in 2021/22. Click here for more info.

Our Mission Statement 

The Lancaster & District Homeless Action Service seeks to provide and improve services for those who are homeless or have housing related needs by the following means:

Aims and Objectives

• Identifying and responding to homelessness and housing related needs.
• Working directly or in partnership with other agencies to promote accessible, responsive and suitable services.
• Offering day centre facilities that offer care and support for homeless people and those with housing related needs.
• Offering advice, information and advocacy service on housing and related issues.
• Maintain accurate and up to date awareness of the needs of those who are homeless or have housing related needs through monitoring, maintaining and generating data for both the project and a wider audience.
• Seeking to inform and guide policy locally and nationally that affects homeless people and those with housing related needs.
• Maximising available resources through seeking out alternative funding, encouraging participation of project users, valuing and developing staff and volunteers and encouraging active support from all sectors of the community.
• Promoting equality of opportunity for all throughout all aspects of the service.

 

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