Bristol housing and addiction recovery service launched
The new service will help people in drug and alcohol recovery retain their homes or find suitable housing
At a glance
The new service will be run by Bristol charity ARA, Recovery for All, who help vulnerable clients, including the homeless and people dealing with mental illness
Its aim in to help those going through alcohol and drug recovery with their housing needs
In total, 10 new specialist workers will be introduced to focus on different aspects of recovery and housing.
- Published
A new service supporting vulnerable people with their housing and substance use has been launched.
Aimed at helping those with drug and alcohol needs sustain tenancies, The Specialist Housing Support Service by Bristol charity ARA, Recovery for All, will include 10 new workers who will focus on different aspects of recovery and housing.
According to the charity, nationally one in six people who are in drug and alcohol recovery have an issue with housing.
Robbie Thornhill, Director of Recovery and Resettlement at ARA said they hoped to help their clients "sustain tenancies" so they are "better able to engage with their drug and alcohol recovery."
Robbie Thornhill said: "Trying to recover when you haven’t got somewhere safe to live, it's like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel."
Formed in 1997, ARA run services around homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, mental health services and other interventions promoting recovery.
Mr Thornhill said: "Trying to recover when you haven’t got somewhere safe to live, its like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel - you cant stay on the track."
Funded until September 2024, the new service will involve charities, hospitals, prisons and the council, with them all focusing on finding and keeping homes for vulnerable people and then integrating them into the local community.
“This service, is a way to get the relevant agencies together and focus them and face them the same way," Mr Thornhill added.
Vicki Burn from the charity Shelter said Bristol was facing a "housing emergency".
Vicki Burn, a housing rights worker at Shelter, said: “It was really great to hear that such a wrap-around service is going to focus not just on housing, but recovery, mental health, so many things, especially as the city faces a housing emergency.
"People are very aware if they lose their house, they could be stuck in the system of homelessness."
Ms Burn, who attended the launch, said: “In Bristol, there’s massive shortage of supply and demand – in the social housing sector there are 19,000 families on the waiting list for housing , 9,000 of those applicants are deemed as urgent need."
ARA Chairman Tony Collins said: "Once we’ve got them into a home – we can start to help them change their lives."
Chair of ARA, Tony Collins said: "We want to give them a sense of ambition about changing their lives.
"This is a life-long kind of changing programme. I always think recovery, it’s not like a common cold that you get over it in a month, it can take a lifetime of work."
“Whatever it is we need to do to get to these people and get them involved again, in a different way of living, I think that’s what we’re trying to do here."
“Once we’ve got them into a home – we can start to help them change their lives," he added.