Why do Housing Matters need our help? There isn't any homelessness on the Isle of Man, right? WRONG - these are the facts:

Housing Matters deals with around ONE NEW CASE A DAY of someone in housing crisis and Covid has made things worse. By the end of lockdown we had 180 open cases on our books. In 2020 many of our service users were aged under 21 and over 400 children were impacted by the cases we dealt with.

We don’t see rough sleepers here on the Island so many people do not realise we have a problem. It is hidden because we have a large and growing population of “sofa surfers” and urgent cases are picked up by Graih, the night shelter. Homelessness happens when people find themselves in situations they just can’t get out of and can strike anyone at any time, through redundancy, a relationship breakdown, or ill health, for example. Covid 19 has increased the the problem as jobs and relationships have come under such pressure. How welcome would a sofa surfer be in your household in these days of self-isolation and social distancing?

Remember, we are not stuck in our homes, we are blessed to have a home. Please give what you can afford to help those who are not so blessed. Every penny you give is spent on the Island and 98% of what we spend is directly on our service provision.

If you would like to know more, look at our website, www.housingmatters.im or our Faccebook page, https://www.facebook.com/The-Great-Manx-Tea-Party-113719890271094/