Home, in the traditional sense the very word conveys a warm safe place where you can relax and be you, secure in your own surroundings.
Yet the desperate reality is that for now, hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are homeless, living in temporary housing or on the streets.
Home is one of the most powerful four letter words on the planet to every single human being. Growing up we might assume that we’re just going to have one. Yet the reality of life choices, choices made against us and sometimes losing our way, can all culminate in losing the ability to maintain a roof over our heads.
Not feeling secure on a daily basis leads to the body being in a perpetual state of fight or flight.
The mental impact of this level of daily stress, the high levels of cortisol that is released and imprisoned in the body, traumatises the nervous system and compounds all anxieties causing the body to begin to turn on itself.
For the homeless on the streets it’s a dangerous example of being caught in a catch 22 – they can’t register an address to work and have a bank account, yet they want to do something to change. Helplessness and feelings that their own country is against them, malnourishment and no decent nights sleep without peace and devoid of threatening behaviour, heighten every negative emotion of fear and depression.
For those living in temporary housing the situation is not much better. Safety is a big concern and violations occur with no locks on internal doors. Families squashed into one room, poor airflow, no storage, uncertainty about the future match the same emotions as those on the streets. The research done by notable charities is extensive and more is shown here. Feelings of worthlessness and a lack of hope are what we aim at More Housing to turn around.
‘Home is where one starts from.’
T.S. Elliott
When people are finally given a home, their healing can begin. They have a home, they are worthy. They are safe. They can be themselves.
The beautiful thing with life? You can start anew at any given moment with simply the decision to try. Support is needed and the journey becomes part of each person’s story.
Replace the harsh memories with clean running water, a safe space that’s not cramped, a true home where you can put your pictures on the wall and work from home if you need to, take all of this and watch people bloom.
It’s not an overnight transition, for many, the streets have been the norm and will need assistance finding a new routine. For those people who’ve never experienced a warm, loving home it can be hard to imagine the mental benefit of being able to unwind and also hard to process the transition when finally receiving one. The transition needs to be managed and cared for, however, for those people working tirelessly in the industry to provide people with roofs over their heads, handing over the keys is a miraculous start. It’s a powerful act that says you are a worthy member of society. We’re all human. We all deserve a warm safe home. That was the mantra we started with and it’s the one that pushes us to move forwards.
‘If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.’
Gaston Bacheld
This is why we do what we do. To gradually, replace the negative thoughts and experiences with feelings of self worth, hope and excitement for the future. Perhaps a More Housing home is just the beautiful new beginning that someone needs. We’re going to make sure that it is.