A Bournemouth charity which helps the homeless is celebrating after being awarded £225,000 from the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund.
Hope Housing Training & Support (HTS) has supported more than 2,700 homeless people to access safe accommodation and get their lives ‘back on track’.
The grant, which will be paid over the next three years, will enable the charity to employ three further support workers for its Opening Doors programme.
It helps formerly homeless people to develop education and employability skills and move towards independent living.
Hope HTS was founded 15 years ago by Julie Berti and her father David Botterill to help the growing number of local people experiencing homelessness.
The charity now has 100 supported accommodation beds across Dorset and collaborates with over 54 local organisations to house vulnerable adults, before helping them into training, employment and independent living.
Julie said: “Our successful Lottery bid couldn’t come at a more important time for Hope.
“Echoing national trends, there has been a rapid increase in the number of rough sleepers in Bournemouth and across Dorset.
“Bournemouth alone has seen a 168% rise in applications for help with homelessness in the past two years. As a result, demand for safe, dry and secure accommodation has risen.
“This Lottery funding will be critical for maintaining and expanding our services and will allow us to continue offering high-quality support positively impacting the lives of vulnerable homeless adults.”
“The first 15 years of Hope has seen many challenges and unabating demand for our help.
“But each day we are here we are changing the lives of people affected by homelessness for the better.
“Every single person matters, and every single person has the right to a better life.
“We want to make the next 15 years even more successful than the last and this Lottery funding will enable us to bring hope to even more people who really need it.”