The BID partners with Providence Row

We are pleased to announce our partnership with Providence Row to fund a vital part of their delivery – a Welcome Area and Resource Centre.

Providence Row is a local homeless charity, which has supported rough sleepers and vulnerably housed people in neighbouring boroughs since 1860. They currently work with around 1200 people a year. Despite Government measures and emergency initiatives, rough sleeping in London rose during the pandemic. There were 11,018 people living in London streets in 2020/21; a rise of 3% compared to 2019/20.

The BID’s Safe and Secure Steering Group heard a proposal from Providence Row about funding a vital part of their delivery – a Welcome Area and Resource Centre. This service is delivered on-site at their day centre on Wentworth Street. This will be the central hub for the projects. The Welcome Area performs a high quality and sensitive reception service for our vulnerable clients, whilst the Resource Centre operates as our immediate crisis response specifically for clients who are rough sleeping. The service is open 8:30am – 4:30pm every week day. Members of the most vulnerable in the community will be able to access immediate services, and serve their individual needs like making a phone call or having a shower.

BID funding will not eradicate homelessness nor will it make material changes to the entrenched street population in Aldgate, but it will go some way to enhancing the lives and the wellbeing of the most vulnerable in our society, and support the foundations and the first access point.