2012 Awards are now closed for entries
The 2012 Andy Ludlow Homelessness Awards are now closed to entries. The shortlist will be announced at the end of June and the final order
of winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 18 October at the
Speaker's House, Westminster.
Find out more
Upper Room - winners of the London Housing Foundation's 21st anniversary prize for
best use of volunteers
The London Housing Foundation has been supporting the Andy Ludlow Homelessness Awards since its inception. The awards are the country’s leading homelessness awards with prize money awarded to the organisations that demonstrate innovative and creative solutions for tackling homelessness in the capital, as well as recognising good practice. Read more about the awards.
The 2011 winners
Top prize winners City of London Personalised Budgets project for entrenched rough sleepers, operated with Broadway - £25,000
The innovative Personalised Budgets Project helped long-term rough sleepers who have been resistant to moving off the streets and reluctant to use health or council services. Staff work intensively with each homeless person to find out what they need to help them off the streets. Through the use of personalised budgets homeless people are able to exercise both choice and control in their lives.
The encouragement and support enabled many homeless people to learn a range of skills. Some were reunited with family and others sought medical help for health and addiction issues.
All those involved in the project had been sleeping rough for between four and 45 years and been very reluctant to take up offers of hostel places or detox programmes. Staff worked with each person to develop a personalised budget and an action plan to help them move away from sleeping rough at their own pace.
Read about Jay, one of the people supported by the Personalised Budgets project
Runners-up - £10,000 prize each
St Mungo’s and the City of London – The Lodge
The Lodge was developed as a response to service users who said traditional hostel settings were intrusive, overwhelming and chaotic. Instead, The Lodge provides a three star hotel-style accommodation service designed to address the needs of London’s most entrenched rough sleepers.
Light-touch staffing and support ensure that guests feel valued, trusted and encouraged to take advantage of training and personal development opportunities at their own pace.
Read more about The Lodge on St Mungo’s website
Westminster City Council – Literacy Strategy for rough sleeping services
The only one of its kind in the supported housing sector, the project teaches homeless people with poor reading skills – an estimated 40% of hostel residents – how to read.
Equipping people with reading skills - needed to manage so many aspects of life off the street - helps break the cycle of rough sleeping. The project runs in hostels on a one to one basis for periods of three months and uses a phonics based literacy programme delivered by volunteer reading coaches.
Read about Matthew, one of those to benefit from the project on London Council’s website
Shortlisted - £2,000 prize each
Broadway – The Old Theatre Hostel (Hammersmith and Fulham based)
The Old Theatre Hostel encompasses 12 studio flats whose residents have been consistently evicted from other supported housing due to their high level of anti-social behaviour.
Each resident agrees their own house rules with the hostel staff that address the specific reasons for eviction from other supported housing. Residents start to take responsibility for their behaviour and begin to feel empowered because they are involved in negotiating the rules they abide by. Residents are also given a small budget for soft furnishings so they can invest in their 'home'.
St Mungo’s – Employment Team Business Hub (Southwark-based)
Operating out of Rushworth Street hostel in Southwark, this project provides training and administration support to homeless people wishing to set up microbusinesses and volunteering and training opportunities for clients.
St Mungo’s has developed 'Business in a Box' ideas that clients can set up and run with modest capital, skills and, importantly, that work alongside the thresholds for tax credits and housing benefit. The project’s training courses and opportunities have been very popular among its client base.
SHP – Camden Aftercare & Social Inclusion Service
This project works with people living in supported housing or hostels in Camden that have substance misuse issues and provides them with access to training, education and employment.
The service provides a complete support service to ensure all the elements that enable independence are in place. The day programme was developed by clients and incorporates an element of peer support.
The London Housing Foundation's 21st Anniversary Prize
In 2011, to celebrate its 21st anniversary, the London Housing Foundation added a special, one-off prize of £15,000 to a project or organisation that makes best use of volunteers (shown left).
More about the 21st Anniversary Prize
Winner - UR4Driving - the Upper Room agency - £15,000
UR4Driving teaches ex-offenders to drive in return for volunteer shiftwork at another Upper Room scheme, the UR4Meals foodbank, which collects, sorts, stores and redistributes food from supermarkets. At the end of the two-part course the participants emerge with a driving licence as well as employment skills including teamwork, punctuality and reliability. The project uses 60 volunteers in this creative and effective scheme and, to date, none of the volunteers has re-offended.
UR4Driving were presented with a trophy and a cheque for £15,000 by Richard Blakeway, the Mayor of London’s Advisor for Housing, at an event to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the London Housing Foundation at City Hall in London.
More about UR4Driving
Special commendation - London Street Rescue - Thames Reach - £2,500
The London Street Rescue helps rough sleepers with many different needs come off the streets and into accommodation 365 nights a year. Its 150 volunteers are expected to fully engage with homeless people and to help them into accommodation. They also put in time at the office assisting staff with referrals, collecting relevant information regarding clients and providing advice about support services.
The Foundation had only planned one prize but as it proved so difficult to choose between the two shortlisted projects, the judges decided to award a highly commended status to Thames Reach, and to give them prize money of £2,500. London Street Rescue plan to use the money to host a party to thank their volunteers who, they say, they could not operate this critical service without.
More about London Street Rescue
Photos - Jo Mieszkowski