Warming Up The Homeless charity opens Hastings drop-in centre

“It’s not just admin,” explains Sally, head team leader at Hastings Homeless Support Centre (formerly Gizmo House) in Priory Street, where Warming Up the Homeless opened their new drop-in centre a month ago. “If you don’t turn up, you lose your slot. It’s teaching our clients about organising their lives, taking turns, keeping to time, using a system. It helps to develop basic social skills.”

Most of the folk who come to the Centre live on the margins. Many sleep rough, or in cars. Three-quarters are male. Most have suffered some degree of trauma. "Ninety per cent of the people who come through our doors were abused as children,” Trudy Hampton, CEO of Warming Up The Homless (WUTH), tells me quietly. “Many of them grew up in institutions. There’s a lot of mental pain. They need boundaries, and a safe place.”

Blue freshly-painted walls surround a cheerful, welcoming space, filled with donated furniture. The adjoining kitchen is impressive: big ovens and fridges and gleaming steel surfaces. This building used to house the Xtrax Centre, a youth outreach which has now relocated. WUTH has taken a three-year lease on the property (the whole area is up for redevelopment, so that’s the limit). There’s a quiet room for those who need it: not everyone can cope with too much company. Offices will be used by various agencies including the Rough Sleepers Initiative, HARC, and Project Adder. “Everything in one spot,” beams Trudy.

From outside comes loud hammering. Two of the centre’s clients are handy with tools, and on their own initiative are enclosing the adjoining yard with large sheets of plywood to create a secure boundary for the incipient garden (an array of pots). Andy, a local artist, explains the high plywood walls are ideal for a mural. "We’ll do it together,” he says. “I’m teaching them to mix paint.” There is already a strong sense of pride. For homeless people, the Support Centre is already a home.

The back yard offers somewhere to dry clothes. “Being able to wash their kit is incredibly important,” Sally tells me. “Most people don’t have much, so they need to be able to clean their stuff and put it back on.” Inside, she selects a key and pushes open a door. The shelves are stacked with clothing. “We can usually find something that fits,” she comments.

Cooking matters here. Local supermarkets donate hundreds of kilos of surplus food each week to WUTH, and the charity employs two full-time chefs. "We’re going to start a food bank here at the Centre,” Trudy explains, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. “Have you tried our homemade apple crumble?” asks team leader Cheryl. “It’s great.” On Sundays there is a full roast lunch, with all the trimmings. Sally plans to start cookery classes.

The whole operation is impressively competent. All staff need advanced DBS clearance, and ESCC equips them with safeguarding skills. There is a professional boundaries course, and first aid training from St John’s Ambulance. Volunteers – of whom WUTH currently has 322, and desperately needs more – are also instructed how to spot victims of loan sharking. WUTH is growing steadily, and now runs three charity shops, two in Bexhill and one in Battle.

At present the Hastings centre only opens on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with a lunch spot on Sundays. "We want to be able to open seven days a week,” Sally tells me, “but we need more help.”

WUTH started in 2015. From hubs in Bexhill and Eastbourne the team now supports, feeds, and clothes 45,000 men, women, and children a year. The charity has its own lawyer specialising in accommodation, and staff know a lot about the many housing challenges our homeless communities face.

If you would like to explore how to volunteer with WUTH, check their website or call 07367 060708.

Tony CollinsGreen councillor, Central St Leonards