Now that I am well over halfway through my Leadership in Action project at KeyStage Housing in Luton, I am taking some time to explain what my LiA is all about. First of all, a little about the charity I am working with. KeyStage Housing is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) which provides supported housing and specialised services for homeless people in Luton, Hitchin, and Northampton. KeyStage Housing houses people directly from the streets, homeless people, ex-offenders, people with complex needs and, multiple complex homeless individuals. The majority of people who KeyStage help have suffered from childhood traumas, often arriving with nothing, many with criminal conviction, without any support network, friends or family and suffering from mental health problems and drug or alcohol addiction. Therefore, for many of these individuals providing a permanent address, a roof over their heads, and support are the first steps to getting these individuals back onto their feet in order to access more opportunities and have a better quality of life. These individuals are vulnerable and often left behind by society, so the work which KeyStage Housing does is invaluable.

During my time at KeyStage Housing I have met three objectives. The first objective was to learn. I have learnt a huge amount during my time here about the individuals who KeyStage Housing support, the services provided, the individuals to who run these services, the amount of regulatory, funding and policy obstacles which KeyStage Housing has to overcome, but most importantly, from meeting the service users, the hope which the service’s KeyStage Housing provides can give to people. The second objective I have met is helping KeyStage Housing transition to a new regulatory framework. Due to the nature of the services KeyStage Housing provides, there is a lot of “red tape” and regulations being constantly introduced which organisations have to meet to access funding and even simply provide the service. Therefore, I have spent time going through the policy and regulation to create hand-outs for staff to understand the new regulation and developed strategic ways of meeting these regulations whilst keeping people at the heart of what KeyStage Housing does. The final objective I met was about connecting KeyStage Housing to the wider community. This because KeyStage Housing tries to provide necessities such as food, toiletries, and household basics, for residents but the scale of situation across the country means that there is never enough to go round. In addition to this, people, including myself before I began volunteering at KeyStage Housing, do not often know about the situation, and the scale of it, which many homeless individuals and prison leavers find themselves in. Therefore, I have worked to find ways in which KeyStage Housing can partner or connect with schools and other institutions, such as churches, to raise awareness and support vulnerable people through physical and monetary donations.

Whilst the prospect of going abroad to work with a charity in another country was exciting, having already volunteering for 3 weeks at the World Youth Days in Lisbon last year, I truly believed that my time would be better spent helping to tackle problems right on my doorstep. I am often struck by the dichotomy and the gaps of inequality in the United Kingdom, a problem which is often taboo, ignored or passed on to the next person. I therefore wanted to volunteer at a charity to understand the scale of the problem but most importantly to see firsthand the solution and how difficult it is to bring about. There is systemic change need in the United Kingdom to tackle homelessness but my time at KeyStage Housing has empowered me and given me the thirst to bring about this change and educate others about what needs to be done. This experience has been eye opening to the suffering surrounding us in the world and has taught me to not ignore this suffering, seek to alleviate it even in the smallest ways, and to be appreciative of everything.

To anyone reading this, if there is one thing you take away from reading the post then please be this; the next time you see a homeless person on the street acknowledge them, smile at them, say hello to them, but don’t ignore them.