About Thames Reach

We all want the problem of street homelessness to go away.  For homeless people, reclaiming a place in society can be a slow and painful process.  Thames Reach helps by supporting vulnerable men and women through four distinct stages of their journey – Street work, Hostel provision, Housing and finally Ongoing Support. 

Each person it works with has a personal story to tell and it provides a caring and personal response. 

Outreach Services 
TRB recognises that the streets are a dangerous place for people sleeping rough and that in a civilised society, everyone should have a roof over their heads and a chance to turn their lives around.

In a role which has been described as “street social work”, staff do much of their work late at night and early in the morning.  They meet people where they bed down, befriend them, assess their needs and assist them in finding somewhere to live.  TRB has also teamed up with three day centres - The Passage, Connection at St Martins and West London Mission to link people with a broader range of help and locations.

Hostels 
Its five hostels across London aren’t five-star hotels.  But they are safer places to sleep than the streets of London for 157 vulnerable people . Outreach teams help move people into hostels directly from the streets. Ranging in age, men and women from their early twenties to late seventies will use the temporary accommodation as an initial stepping stone to physically and emotionally rebuild their lives – obtaining care and support to help deal with complex issues such as deteriorating mental health, alcohol and drug abuse.

Housing
450 former rough sleepers and those at risk of homelessness are living in Thames Reach shared short term accommodation across London. Housing support teams are on hand to help residents regain their confidence, access services such as education and healthcare and build their skills to successfully manage and maintain their own tenancy.

Ongoing Support 
There is a common perception that homeless people are hopeless too.  At Thames Reach staff have learnt from the people they work with that nobody is beyond hope.  Given the right kind of support – practical and emotional - all service users have the potential to make a new life for themselves and to help others do the same. TRB currently helps 1,200 people sustain and maintain their tenancies. Once someone has made their way from the street into their own home, TRB wants to keep them there.  It takes more than bricks and mortar solutions to help formerly homeless to ease their way back into our communities. 

TRB has a range of complementary  services enabling formerly homeless men and women develop their skills, and sense of worth, raise their self confidence and find employment:

• A new resource centre in South London 
• A long established self help group - Huge Move – this offers a range of social activities and workshops, and work placements with leading british companies are available via our links with Business Action on Homelessness
• An award winning peer education programme, involving former rough sleepers developing and presenting workshops to other ex-homeless people who are going through the stressful and disorientating process of establishing themselves in their new homes
• A painting and decorating project – Moving In Moving On – where formerly homeless men and women learn skills and then provide a decorating service to other homeless people who are moving into flats
• A farm project where formerly homeless people are an important part of the work force as well as having the opportunity to work out of doors, out of London and enjoy the accomplishments of team work.

Our history

Thames Reach and homelessness: a short history

1949   Only six people recorded sleeping rough on the streets of London.
1960s/70s Homelessness begins to increase and charities are founded to deal with the growing problem.
1979   Bondway Shelter – a dormitory-style hostel in South London – opens.

1980 Bondway Housing Association formed and takes over management of the shelter.
Early 1980’s  The widespread closure of old-style hostels and reception centres radically reduces the number of hostel beds, although the ‘Hostels Initiative’ replaces some of the older provision with much smaller, but higher quality supported housing projects.
1982   The first of four Bondway supported housing projects – eventually spanning Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Wandsworth – is opened.
1984   Thames Reach is set up and funded by the Greater London Council to undertake outreach work on the streets of central London, in response to growing political concern and embarrassment at the high visibility of homeless people.
Mid 1980’s  Over 1,000 people sleeping rough in London on any one night. The numbers of rough sleepers are boosted by restrictions placed on the claiming of welfare benefits to meet ‘board & lodgings’, and by restricting benefits payments to younger people.
1986   Thames Reach opens Stamford Street hostel near Waterloo.
Late 1980’s  Following pressure from political groups, local authorities, and the voluntary sector, the government creates the first of three successive 3-year ‘Rough Sleepers Initiatives’ to provide additional services and resources, including an expansion of outreach and resettlement work, and the funding of temporary and permanent accommodation.
Thames Reach opens Shroton Street hostel in Marylebone.

1990  The Department of Health creates the ‘Homeless Mentally Ill Initiative’ (HMII), to provide community mental health care, and high support accommodation, for rough sleepers. Two years later, Thames Reach opens the Aberdour & Galleywall project – the first of its HMII high-support mental health schemes – and forges a long-term partnership with the START Mental Health team in South London.
1995  Bondway opens Robertson Street project, providing 42 places for older, vulnerable ex-rough sleepers.
1995  Lambeth High Street opens – the second of Thames Reach’s HMII accommodation projects. The first of Thames Reach’s permanent supported flats also opens, as part of a programme providing over 60 bed spaces in Lambeth and Southwark.
1998   The new Labour Government’s Social Exclusion Unit undertakes an extensive study of rough sleeping, leading to the creation of the Rough Sleepers Unit. Louise Casey is subsequently appointed ‘czar’ to head up the new unit. 620 people are recorded as sleeping rough on any one night across Greater London with 237 in Westminster alone. This figure is only a snapshot on one night and the numbers sleeping rough over the year are far greater.
1999   Thames Reach is awarded the contracts for outreach work in two of the busiest areas in central London, covering most of Westminster, as well as small areas of adjoining boroughs.

Sept  2001  The Graham House hostel opens, replacing the old Bondway Shelter.
Oct   2001  Thames Reach and Bondway merge, creating one of the largest homelessness charities in London. The Bondway Soup Run is replaced by a Street Rescue Service.
Nov  2001 The Rough Sleepers Unit announces that their primary target set by government – a two-thirds reduction in numbers of people sleeping rough across England – has been met.
Aug  2002 Figures for the whole of London show a reduction with 321 people sleeping rough on any one night
July  2003  The number of people on the streets continues to come down with only 101 recorded in a street count in Westminster, the area traditionally associated with the highest concentration of rough sleepers in the country.
July 2003  Thames Reach teams up with Westminster City Council to pursue a groundbreaking strategy to reduce the number of rough sleepers further.