Liverpool

Emmaus Liverpool
c/o Edward Billington & Son Ltd
Cunard Building
Liverpool
L3 1EL

Contact: Rob Toomey

Welcome to Emmaus Liverpool

Homelessness in Liverpool

According to the Liverpool City Council's Homelessness Strategy for 2008-2011 there are 3000 people in acute housing need in Liverpool, of which 647 (22%) are in greatest need and the Council has a duty to re-house them. Clearly the availability of resources will be an important factor in determining the timescale and. perhaps to a degree, the level of provision achievable.

The council is replacing inadequate hostel accomodation as resources allow and committed to work to prevent homelessness wherever possible. The Women's Direct Access Centre has been completely refurbished and the Men's Direct Access Centre has been demolished and is being replaced by a purpose built Centre also with en suite facilities and extensive training facilities on site. Clearly these steps demonstrate that significant improvements are being made in the standard of provision for those in greatest need in the City. The contribution which the Emmaus Liverpool Project is keen to make will closely compliment these developments.

From consultation with organisation working with homeless people in Liverpool, the real level of homelessness could be somewhat higher than presented in the Homelessness Strategy. There are regularly no hostel beds available in the City (although there are about 900 temporary accomodation places). There is a significant need for integrated service provision for homeless people providing accomodation with other support to enable those involved to rebuild their lives improve their employment prospects through training and job search support etc. The acquisition of move-on accomodation is also often a problem.

What do we want to achieve?

There is considerable opportunity to work with existing accomodation providers and other organisations to establish networks of referrals and to ensure the provision of services (e.g floating support) to those from Emmaus Liverpool. The training and employment opportunities provided by Emmaus projects are recognised as very important additional resources to help those involved to rebuild their lives and move towards independent living over a period of time determined by their circumstances.

Our Emmaus Communities have a goal to become financially self-sufficient through the efforts of our residents, who are referred to as companions. They agree to work full-time for our Community, and once our project is established this will provide us with an income. In the long term, this will be enough to make our community self sufficient, as it will cover work that's needed in the residential part and in the business where they will collect and sell donated furniture and other retail activities. Companions will also be trained to refurbish items for re-sale.

Project revenue budgets and self sufficiency

A five-year revenue budget has been prepared, assuming, trading for five days a week, and staffing of a full-time Community Leader and Deputy Community Leader, and a part-time Administrator and Warehouse Supervisor. It is forecast that the community will be self-sufficient within three years of opening.

Fundraising

The target of £1.75 million includes refurbishment costs, projected deficit for year 1 and year 2 of operation. Emmaus Liverpool has already raised £70,000 towards the cost.

Liverpool's current assets include

- Trustee expertise in survering, planning, property development and property law.
- Database records of 340 local supporters and potential donors.

Potential sources of large grants and gifts are the Homes & Communities Agency, national and local government sources, charitable trusts, companies and individuals.

Please note...

We are sorry, but we cannot collect furniture or accept furniture donations yet.