Orbit employees have selected Crisis, the national charity for people experiencing homelessness, as Orbit’s chosen charity partner for 2021.
The charity, which helps people directly out of homelessness and campaigns for the changes needed to eliminate homelessness altogether, estimates that around 200,000 people were homeless in England in 2020, with an estimated 10,500 people sleeping rough on any given night.
Helen Nicholson-Rhodes, Group People Director at Orbit, commented: “We believe that everyone is entitled to a good quality home that they can afford, in a place that they are proud to live. It’s been our mission since we were founded and everything we do works to support this. The efforts made to tackle homelessness in the pandemic were only temporary and sadly it’s back on the rise in many areas. It’s a major problem and one which we are serious about working with our partners to address.
“With Crisis as our ‘Charity of the Year’ for 2021-22, we can do even more to support ending homelessness, together. There will be lots of ways our employees can get involved: from giving people comfort and hope while volunteering with Crisis at Christmas, to completing swims, runs, bake sales and many more fundraisers throughout the year.
Jon Sparkes, Chief Executive at Crisis, added: “We are so grateful to everyone at Orbit for supporting our year-round work to end homelessness.
“No one should be forced to live on the streets, on people’s floors or in unsuitable temporary accommodation with no hope of their own home in sight. With the help of Orbit, we will be able to provide more people across the country with the right housing, employment and wellbeing support they need to end their homelessness for good.”
Orbit is one of the largest builders of affordable homes and provides a range of homeless services, including temporary accommodation and hostels, as well as longer-term accommodation, particularly for people who have been homeless with mental health conditions.
It works in partnership with organisations such as P3, Porchlight, Salvation Army, Coventry Cyrenians and the Richmond Fellowship, and is committed to the National Housing Federation’s ‘Commitment to refer’, which is an obligation to refer anyone to a local authority if they are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
To find out more about how Orbit is working to end homelessness, visit: https://orbitgroup.org.uk/our-impact/
For more information on Crisis, click here: https://www.crisis.org.uk/