HOMELINK Lewes
HOMELINK's Winter Appeal
A campaign to raise funds to provide loans and emergency small grants to HOMELINK applicants and clients this winter who are in a housing crisis.
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"Never has your support been more needed. Lewes District's homeless, and those at significant risk of homelessness, are caught in the eye of the storm caused by the cost-of-living crisis. They do not have the financial resources to address their housing needs" Gary B, HOMELINK Client Manager
Energy, food and petrol prices have been skyrocketing. Rents increasing and wages frozen. It's a bleak picture financially for many, but especially so for the vulnerable HOMELINK clients and their families who, daily, now must make difficult decisions such as whether to pay rent, heat their homes or eat because their incomes do not cover living costs.
We have set up this Winter Appeal to address the additional level of need within the Lewes District area for HOMELINK applicants and clients facing homelessness and/or struggling to afford the basics they need to live.
"Many families cannot provide essential goods for their homes and struggle to cook, buy food or wash clothes. Indeed, more and more rental properties do not even have floor covering as standard, just boards or concrete. This is where HOMELINK can assist those in most need," Shaun G, HOMELINK Client Manager
Alongside the interest-free loans for landlord deposits and rent in advance HOMELINK provides to the homeless, or those at risk of homelessness, we offer a small grants programme to help referred clients in severe financial hardship buy the essential household items they cannot otherwise afford such as bedding, cooking equipment or basic furniture.
To help our existing customers survive this winter, HOMELINK has taken the unprecedented step to offer additional small emergency crisis grants to those who are facing food, heating and/or energy poverty alongside their housing issues. We also have a service to help clients who move into the growing number of rental properties which have been stripped bare of carpets, flooring and curtains leaving them without vital warmth and insulation.
Example of a rental property with flooring removed as reported by BBC News
We've been kindly supported by the Enjoolata Foundation and the Lewes District Food Partnership to support this endeavour, however, funding is finite and demand fast exceeding supply. The number of emergency grants we have made so far this year is already more than double that of last year.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Thank you for arranging the microwave. I managed to get some microwaveable food for the past few days with the £25 [food] voucher." RG, HOMELINK client (in emergency accommodation and subject to food poverty).
If you would like to make a difference locally this Christmas, please consider donating to our Winter Appeal.
We need your help to continue to be able to provide the vital front-line support we offer individuals and families in crisis in the Lewes District area. At HOMELINK we are uniquely placed to help vulnerable clients in the ways that will assist them most, but we need additional funding to meet these extra calls for help.
If you are in a position to support us, please consider making a direct donation to our Winter Appeal on this Just Giving page.
Alternatively, you can fundraise independently for our appeal over Christmas and the New Year here on Just Giving. Just get in touch if you'd like some help to do this (contact details below).
ABOUT HOMELINK
[HOMELINK] are very good at listening and giving best advice....proud and happy to finally have got a one-bedroom flat since trying since age of 16." AF, HOMELINK client
HOMELINK is a unique, volunteer-led charity that has been helping people into homes in the Lewes District for over 20 years. We provide interest-free loans for landlord deposits and advanced rent so that those in crisis can move into homes rather than sleep rough or endure untenable living conditions.
The interest free loans are repaid at an affordable rate (typically between £20 and £50 per month) and all repayments recycled to help the next person or family in need.
HOMELINK offers a hand-up, not a handout, to those who require help.
In addition, we provide small grants to referred clients to buy household essentials they could not otherwise afford, and also assist newly-released prisoners with the cost of short-term B&B accommodation if they have nowhere to stay upon release.
TO FIND OUT MORE
"During one of my most testing times in my life I was supported and reassured throughout my homelessness situation. [HOMELINK] guided me to find suitable accommodation [and] supported me emotionally and financially to find a place to stay so that I didn't have to sleep in my car. My case was important to HOMELINK. They put people first." BT, HOMELINK Client
You can find out more about the service that HOMELINK provides in the Lewes District area by visiting our website.
If you'd like keep across our events and news in 2023, you can also sign up for our newsletter and supporter comms here.
To catch-up on recent activities over the past few months click here for HOMELINK's Autumn Newsletter.
Finally, if you have any questions or need support with setting up a fundraising event on behalf of HOMELINK, email us at: Homelink.Lewes.Ado@gmail.com
