After Government statistics released today show a 60% rise in the number of people sleeping rough in Birmingham, a charity has spoken about the work being done at Digbeth homeless shelter, Tabor House.

Christy Acton, Deputy Community Projects Manager at Father Hudson’s Care, spoke about Tabor House, which supports people experiencing homelessness to make a fresh start. Since opening in September 2017, Tabor House has supported ten people to move into their own accommodation. Yet more people have been supported to move back in with families or shared living arrangements. Volunteers at Tabor House assist guests with finding training, managing debt, building their employment skills – whatever they need to turn their lives around.

Christy said, “The rise in homelessness is disappointing. We can see on the streets of Birmingham that the issue is getting worse. Tabor House is here 365 nights a year, and we’re trying to help people for the long-term. Some guests stay for three or four months, and during that time we work with them to give them every chance to move on. This may be into their own accommodation, or into work – we give them time and space to take steps forward.

“You can find yourself on the street very quickly. You can lose your job, a relationship might end – there are a whole range of complex issues. You end up with no choice but to sleep on the streets. But there’s a lot of good work going on in the city to try and help. Ideally we want to catch someone before they have that first night or those first few days because we find that once someone has had a few weeks or months on the streets, it’s a much harder situation to deal with.”