Why we started Hope Housing, Bridlington
Hope Housing, Bridlington started with three separate conversations with members of three separate Bridlington churches back in 2017. “Why can’t we take over some of the empty properties in Bridlington,” they asked, “and fill them with homeless people?” At a meeting about coastal poverty a couple of months later we mentioned the idea, and someone suggested we contact Green Pastures. “They’d buy you a house,” they said. So on a snowy December day a group of us trekked over to Harrogate to meet our (then) local Green Pastures rep, Carl Good, who talked us through how it would all work.
We were excited and daunted in equal measure, and decided that this was too big a project for a single church, but a group of churches might well take it on. So in early 2018 Carl brought Pastor Pete Cunningham, Green Pastures’ founder, to a packed Deanery Synod meeting and the dream started to take shape. There were some sceptical voices, but over the next few months all the Church of England churches in the area (Bridlington Deanery) – both rural and urban – voted to come on board.
First Steps
The next step was to form a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and to give it a name – Hope Housing Bridlington. A friend of a friend of a friend gave us some valuable free legal advice, and we were eventually registered and properly constituted, with the members of the Deanery Synod being the charity’s Members and the Deanery Leadership Team its Trustees. Several churches and individuals made generous gifts and it was soon time to look for our first property and employ our first Housing Support Officer. One of the original three visionaries got house-hunting and Ian Burbidge was appointed as HSO.
Our First House
On 1st August 2019 we collected the keys to our first house, a three bedroomed terrace property close to Bridlington Spa. During September a host of volunteers got cleaning and furnishing and our first resident moved in on 8th October 2019. By the 9th November a second and third resident had moved in and our house was full. A great moment for us and for them - three formerly homeless men making a new start in turning their lives around, and with a roof over their heads before winter began. That December the men enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner in their new home (right),
A Second House
2020 was a difficult year for everyone because of the Covid pandemic but at least for our residents they had a warm and safe home during this time. In November 2020 we appointed our second Housing Support Officer Mike Matravers (left) and started the process of looking for a second house..
Sadly our first Housing Suppport Officer Ian Burbriodge died suddenly in January 2021. Following Ian's death Mike took on Ian's role as well as his own.
On 29th May 2021 we collected the keys for our second house, another three bed terrace close to Bridlington town centre.and prepared for our new residents to move in.
Moving Forward
Hope Housing is still in its infancy, and we have seen many ups and downs – these men are extremely vulnerable – however, one of them already has been able to find his way into independent living and found faith and was baptised. Another has been able to pick up a qualification and others are simply grateful for having a solid roof rather than a canvas one and support to begin to be able to do more than just survive.
We are hoping to take on a third house in the very near future to increase our capacity to support some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society. We are also currently setting up a social enterprise project to enable an opportunity for some of the men, and others, to gain work experience and some skills.