FAQs
1. What is Anchor House?
Anchor House is a residential/life skills centre in East London. The centre supports up to 180 single homeless people year. It addresses the root causes of homelessness and unemployment through training, education and personal rehabilitation. Anchor House is owned by its charity – The London Inter-Diocesan Apostleship of the Sea (Charity No. 253669).
2. What is your relationship to the Church?
Anchor House’s constitution is modelled on a modern social welfare charity, but still retains its Christian values for alleviating poverty and suffering. However, residents are selected without distinction as to race, ethnic background or creed.
3. What type of referrals do you take?
We accept adults, both men and women aged 20 or over. They have many probelms usually including uncontrollable drug or alcohol problems, or are extremely vulnerable for other reasons and need to work on many issues until they are ready to accept help and move on.
4. Where do they come from?
Some 95% of our referrals come from Newham with the remainder from surrounding boroughs. Referring agencies include Housing Services, Probation and Prisons.
5. Why are there not more women?
Traditionally, Anchor House was a male environment for seafarers. Today the majority of referrals for hostel accommodation are for men. This is because single homeless women have more options on referral if they have children, which gives them statutory rights to housing; or they might need to live in a non-male environment for a while. We do have now a dedicated floor for 23 women.
6. How long do residents stay with you?
We give licenses for six months, capable of renewal. The majority of residents stay for 12-15 months, but is dependent upon exceptional need for rehabilitation, which can be up to four years.
7. Is there a maximum stay?
No – individuals can take as long as they need to ensure that they are ready to move on with minimal risk of returning to the streets.
8. Why do you need charitable funding?
Charitable funding ensures Anchor House retains its independence to challenge government policy and campaign for more intelligent funding for housing services for vulnerable adults.
9. How do I know my money will be well spent?
Anchor House is a registered charity and has to meet rigorous audit requirements. Its accounts are a public record, and the Board of Trustees have a legal duty to spend charitable funds prudently and according to donors’ wishes, where these are explicit.
10. What happens to your unrestricted reserves?
Unrestricted reserves is used to make provision for unforeseen circumstances, such as the loss of a major funder or income stream. It also serves as an investment reserve to help generate income, or fund new projects or initiatives. The trustees have to report annually on their reserves policy under charity accounting rules.
11. What do residents do during the day?
The Aspirations Programme provides a range of developmental activities to help our residents improve their physical and mental health, learn to look after themselves, study new skills essential for independence and wellbeing, become involved in training programmes, engage in developing job skills to improve employability, etc. Over 95% of residents are involved in some form of
positive activity.
12. Do they have a choice of activities?
Yes – each person will develop their own plan of action with staff support. This will include a programme of volunteering, training, education, health and nutrition and recreational activities.
13. Why do people find it so hard to break out of homelessness?
People usually become homeless as a result of something going fundamentally wrong in their lives. They have often lost much more than a home, feel isolated and depressed, and have very low self-esteem and little self-confidence. They may also be in denial about their ability to cope, particularly if they have acquired a drug or alcohol problem. Due to prejudice and stigma attached to homelessness, people find it very difficult to get a job or find a tenancy. They may have lost their papers to prove
their identity, have poor credit ratings, no bank account and no references. There is also a well-known “benefits trap” which makes it very hard to progress from benefits to fully paid employment, given that the first jobs they secure are likely to be part-time, and/or very poorly paid.
14. What are you doing that is different from other homeless charities?
We actively strive to move people on and into paid employment with their own tenancies. We do this through the Aspirations Programme, which we developed in consultation with our residents. As part of this process we foster a spirit of respect and responsibility, and encourage residents to help and mentor each other. We also offer employment and volunteering opportunities within Anchor House, which promotes self-esteem, skills development and confidence. We provide facilities for
external work-based training providers, who offer training and qualifications in construction, catering and customer services. We monitor and evaluate all our activities in a continual quest for improvement.
