THE HIDDEN TRUTH ABOUT HOMELESSNESS.


Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘the hidden homeless’?


It is a pretty accurate description of the homeless situation in Jersey, which affects some of the Island’s most vulnerable people.


By Debbie Jeffries, fundraiser at Sanctuary Trust


The hidden homeless refers to people without a home of their own. They may have a roof over their head through sharing a cramped bedsit, sofa surfing at someone’s house or perhaps relying on a free bed for the night provided by a charity like Shelter Trust, but they don’t have a home to call their own.


Being homeless in Jersey is not always visible. It is unlikely that you will see people sleeping rough or begging in the streets like you do in the UK and this can create the false illusion that Jersey does not have a homeless problem.


But it does and since 2011, when Sanctuary Trust was set up, the charity has helped 306 men, plus many more who have been supported through outreach or pastoral care.


We provide hope, shelter and support to 24 men at a time across both our sites; Sanctuary House and Sanctuary Lodge. Our hope is that we reach men before they have reached ‘rock-bottom’ and we can help them to turn their lives around. There is no


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time limit to the help we give but after an initial stay at Sanctuary House, our registered care home, men can move to Sanctuary Lodge, our secondary property at Beaumont that functions as a ’halfway house’ back to society. Our joint occupancy rate is 87.5% but there are 'peaks and troughs' through the year. Historically, the average age of men we help is between 38 - 42 with just under half being Jersey-born and a large majority of the others being UK


born but long-term Jersey residents. The average stay is approximately 47 weeks but with huge variations; some men stay a few weeks whilst others may be with us considerably longer than the average.


There are a million different reasons why people become homeless including not being able to pay the rent or experiencing a significant life event such as a relationship break down, losing a job, mental or physical health problems, or substance misuse.


In truth, our residents at Sanctuary Trust will often have one or more of the above issues.


The charity’s founders identified a need locally to support men, but why? It is often the case that men, even in difficulty, have a strong sense of pride, whereby they do not wish to be seen as needing help or to be asking for that much needed help as it may heighten their vulnerability.


We pride ourselves on going further than just providing a bed and a hot meal; our support team works closely with external


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