Our services

The Passage offers a wide range of services, all year round, to meet the needs of homeless and vulnerable people. Our aim is to help people to address the issues that have contributed to them becoming homeless, and to enable them to move on to live safe, happy and fulfilling lives.

Our services are split between our Resource Centre, which provides more immediate support, our three residential projects which provide accommodation while we secure long term solutions for people and our homelessness prevention projects which reduce the risk of repeat homelessness.

Inside our Resource Centre…

• Rough Sleepers team

  Our Rough Sleepers team are the first point of contact for people who approach our Resource Centre. They carry out initial assessments and work out a long-term plan for each rough sleeper.

• Employment, training and Welfare Rights team

  This team removes the barriers that people may face to obtaining work or financial support, to enable them a secure route off the streets. Services include:
  -debt advice
  -computer/literacy/numeracy training
  -CV/interview preparation including clothes and transport fare
  -support for applying for benefits

• Immigration team

  This service meets the needs of the relatively high proportion of rough sleepers in Westminster whose unresolved immigration status prevents them from moving away from the streets. A person with unresolved immigration status is not entitled to public funds and, in many cases, prohibited from working, making it very difficult to find a route out of homelessness.

• Healthcare services

  We provide a comprehensive healthcare service through a nurse-led surgery and local GP. We have specialist substance-misuse, mental-health and dual-diagnosis workers and a podiatrist on-site. As well as traditional healthcare services, we also provide complementary therapies such as homeopathy, acupuncture and art therapy to offer a more holistic approach that suits as many of our clients’ needs as possible.

• Housing Options

  In response to the City of Westminster’s Housing Options initiative to prevent people in housing crisis from becoming homeless, our Housing Options team was established in 2017. The Passage provides the service for single people in partnership with Shelter and Places for People. Our team helps people who are in need of support with social housing, and under threat of homelessness as well as helping individuals to maintain their tenancies

• Modern Slavery Service

  This Service provides support to potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery and human trafficking who are homeless in Westminster. Our holistic support includes basic needs, signposting to First Responders, emergency accommodation, health and mental health support and care. The Passage also has a Modern Slavery Navigator, unique in the homeless sector, who works in partnership with Westminster City Council. You can read our reports in the section “Publications”.

  Read more about our modern slavery service

• Hotel School

  Our employment project, supporting homeless people into the hospitality industry, run in collaboration with The Goring Hotel. This scheme provides training via a ten week introductory course, covering all aspects from front-of-house to catering.

• Community Intervention team

  In partnership with the Victoria Business Improvement District, we operate a street outreach service, carried out by our Community Intervention Team, which looks for people sleeping rough in The Passage’s local area, helps them to move away from street activity and, in collaboration with local homelessness services, to find a route off the streets.

Our accommodation projects…

• Montfort House

  Montfort House houses people with complex mental health, addiction or other specialist support needs. This residential project consists of 16 studio flats and offers innovative approaches to manage the individual needs of our clients. For example, we are one of a small number of projects currently offering people with addiction issues a secure place to stay, giving them the stable environment they need to address their problems. We tailor rules to each individual’s needs rather than using a blanket approach. Many of our residents would not be accepted to stay in a usual hostel setting.

• Passage House

  Passage House is a rapid-response facility. It provides high-quality support to new rough sleepers who have no local connection to Westminster, by giving them a safe and welcoming place to stay for up to 28 days while we work with them to find a route off the street. In addition to focusing on finding sustainable accommodation for them, we provide support around mental and physical health, and drug and alcohol misuse; life skills; volunteering and employment opportunities; and well-being activities, such as art, mindfulness and KCR (Kinetic Chain Release), and other groups.

• Newman Street

  Our Newman Street site opened in July 2018. It has 81 residential spaces, providing temporary accommodation through providing temporary accommodation for people who have applied to their local authority for a solution to end their homelessness. Our team work with residents to develop a move-on strategy and a tenancy sustainment package.

Homelessness prevention schemes

• Home for Good

  Our befriending scheme recruits Community Volunteers across London to support people in their local area who are settling in to their new accommodation after experiencing homelessness. During regular social meetings, the volunteer accompanies and supports their client in exploring the local area, resources and opportunities, and building connections, resilience and a sense of purpose. This in turn reduces the risk of them becoming homeless again

• Sunday Social Club

  Clients who have experienced repeat homelessness often report feeling particularly lonely and isolated during the weekends. Our Home for Good weekend Social Club provides companionship through a shared Sunday lunch, reading of Sunday papers, board games, and regular group visits to places of interest. Home for Good has achieved a 98% success rate in helping people to sustain their accommodation.