New project to help homeless women in Eastbourne

Charmaine Sewell at Reformed East Sussex is now crowdfunding for the New Leaf Housing for Women, which aims to provide a comprehensive support package to help such women move on in their lives.

She said, “The number of homeless people in Eastbourne has more than quadrupled in two years and while there were five street homeless women, this number is hugely unrepresentative of those who are in and out of homelessness, sofa surfing or otherwise vulnerably housed.

“I have found a gap and identified Eastbourne needs this project to come to life. If this project gets the go ahead it will help change so many women which would see a decrease in drugs and alcohol misuse and offending behaviours locally. I hope RES employment and training initiatives will be a great resource for the women when they are ready to move on in their lives.

“The project will be a recovery oriented approach to ending homelessness that centres on quickly moving women experiencing homelessness into independent and permanent housing and providing additional support and services as needed.

“New Leaf plans to help women maintain tenancies and move them towards living fully independently. We hope this project will demonstrate high degrees of success in both housing and supporting women who are chronically street homeless with multiple and complex needs. This project is a pilot, supporting a small number of highly vulnerable women with complex needs to stabilise their lives.”

To donate visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/new-leaf-housing-for-women