Homeless charity says demand is 'through the roof'

Sheffield City Council say there has been an “unprecedented" surge in homelessness in the city

The head of a homelessness charity says the service has never been busier, with the number of people seeking support reaching "unsustainable" levels.

Sheffield's Archer Project has been helping homeless people for over 30 years, providing hot food, clothes and access to GPs and dentists as well as working to get people off the street.

The charity said in recent years the number of people it helped had continued to rise, from 913 in 2022 to 1,103 in 2023, and it estimated that figure would rise to more than 1,500 this year.

CEO Tim Renshaw said: "Numbers have gone through the roof. We used to just about cope cooking 15,000 meals a year. We're expecting to cook 28,000 this year."

The charity offers users personal training and activities at their Campo Lane site in the city centre.

Mr Renshaw said the sessions were designed to build people's confidence and improve their health, but said building trust with users was vital and he feared the extra strain on the service could impact their ability to do that.

"If you have 60 people a day coming through the door you can build and maintain those relationships and help people to move on," he said.

"If you have 120 people through the door it's much more difficult to keep and maintain those relationships, all you're doing is managing space. It's unsustainable."

The Archer Project has been supporting the homeless in Sheffield for over 30 years

Lucy, who is now in her 30's, has been living on the streets since she was 21.

She first came to the Archer Project in 2023 and is now volunteering in their laundry room. She has just got her own flat.

"It's a massive relief but nerve wracking too because I've been on the streets for so long," she said.

"But now I have a support worker in place at the Archer Project. They're lovely, they've helped me get furniture for my property."

Lucy volunteers in the laundry room at the Archer Project

Earlier this year Sheffield City Council said homelessness in the city was at an all time high.

In a monthly budget report in August the authority said there had been an “unprecedented surge" in homelessness and that dealing with it placed a severe drain on its budget.

Helping people into temporary and supported accommodation is forecast to cost the council £12.6m in 2025/26, it said.

The council currently has to bridge the gap between the amount accommodation costs and the amount it can recover from government housing benefits.

According to the leader of the Green Party group Douglas Johnson, who is also the chair of the Housing Policy Committee, the council's use of hotel and B&B accommodation has reached an "unsustainable and unaffordable level”.

"Homeless in Sheffield is at crisis point, as it is across the country," he said.

"There is unprecedented demand we've not seen before, it's down to a combination of increased house prices, cost of living, many years of austerity and many support systems dismantled."

Mr Renshaw admitted the huge increase in clients had also had an impact on his staff's workload and said he was concerned about their welfare.

"Traditionally we've always been a five-day service, but we close after breakfast on Wednesday now because our staff need a break too," he said.

"This is affecting other services too, people hoping to do preventive work are doing crisis management work."

Looking ahead Mr Renshaw said he "wasn't hopeful" the situation would improve in the next year without "huge investment".

He said: "The housing crisis is the big one. People see empty buildings around the city centre and wonder why they can't be used [but] we also need investment in fixing people's lives that are broken."

Among those hoping to help is Prince William, who in 2023 announced Sheffield was one of six cities to benefit from his Homewards project.

Speaking earlier this year he said he hoped the scheme could help "lift that pressure" off existing services, though charities have previously warned there is "no magic wand".

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