Working at the heart of homelessness

Caritas Anchor House is a Catholic homelessness charity. However, we are more than that – we are a residential and life-skills centre for single homeless adults, and act as a community empowerment hub in the local area. Our charity’s driving mission is to ensure that those who walk through our doors grow in confidence and move towards leading independent, self-fulfilling lives by providing education, guidance and personal rehabilitation.

Caritas Anchor House works with vulnerable groups including those affected by homelessness, offending, mental health, substance misuse, domestic abuse and unemployment. We have a holistic approach and use our innovative Aspirations Programme, developed in collaboration with their residents. The programme addresses all aspects of their life, including health and wellbeing, recreational and therapeutic activities, maintaining relationships, financial management, education, volunteering, training, back to work preparation and support to achieve independent living.

Caritas Anchor House is based in Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK, and is high performing despite the austere economic climate. In 2015, we gave a home and support to 211 people, helped 58 of our residents move on to independent living, and supported 36 into employment. We also recorded up to 12,000 visits from people accessing our services. We have been runner up as Social Champion for the past three years in the UK charity sector, and were found to provide £3.98 in benefits to society for every £1 invested in our operations.

As well as in-house services, we run St Mark’s Community Centre in Beckton, which provides and houses an array of services. Your Space, our community-based therapeutic service, runs group and one-to-one counselling services for the elderly and disadvantaged. We run the Integrated Offender Management pilot in our borough, and are actively involved in the development of the Community Prescription with Newham’s Clinical Commissioning Group and partners.

Our vision

To be valued as the UK’s leading social action charity, pioneering long-term solutions for people experiencing homelessness, social exclusion and deprivation.

Our mission

We deliver services and support in communities, challenging people to reclaim their lives by:

• Empowering people to ensure they are not homeless again
• Providing learning and development opportunities for all
• Offering health care and well-being services
• Providing safe spaces to nurture connections and conversations