- Area:
- Wales
- Release date:
- 25 2 2013
A former homeless man from Swansea who learned to read his first book at the age of 44 is among those who have benefited from over £17.5 million awarded by the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to projects which aim to tackle homelessness in Wales.
Living in The Wallich’s Dinas Fechen Hostel in Swansea, Alan Penfold, now 45, had limited literacy skills, was suffering with incredibly low confidence and self esteem and was reluctant to leave his room to socialise with others. Alan experienced a difficult childhood and spent most of his youth caring for a family member and he never had the opportunity to take part in usual childhood activities. But thanks to the support he received from the BIG funded Streets Ahead project run by homeless charity, The Wallich, Alan has managed to turn his life around and increase his life skills and confidence in the process.
After receiving help to practice and improve his reading and writing skills, Alan joined the library last year and was able to read his first ever book. And in December 2012, he was awarded the Cymorth Cymru Service User Achievement Award in recognition of his progress and achievements and is now hoping to pursue a career in the Care Sector to help people who are going though the same as what he experienced.
Streets Ahead is one of more than 120 causes to benefit from over £17.5 million awarded by BIG in Wales since 1994 to projects that either provide advice and support or aim to tackle homelessness.
“I attended my first Streets Ahead session with difficulty and struggled with the group work element, but I was determined to make changes in my life and set out a series of goals with the staff,” says Alan.
“These were recorded on an individual learning plan and included improving my literacy and confidence, learning to cook, improving my fitness, overcoming my fear of groups and crowds, and preparing myself for future employment by gaining qualifications.”
Alan achieved his first certificate in ICT within a week, which boosted his confidence to study for a variety of other awards and qualifications. To improve his fitness, he started to attend weekly gym sessions and helped set up a Community Running Club - The Wheezels. In September 2012 he ran the Swansea Bay 10k and raised over £200 in sponsorship to help support future activities for the Streets Ahead project. He successfully moved into supported independent accommodation in September 2011 and is now enjoying the independence of living on his own.
“My confidence has definitely improved since participating in social activities and I am willing to try anything that is a positive new experience,” beams Alan.
“I really enjoy peer support and I’m now hoping to pursue a career in the Care Sector. I’m so grateful to all the staff and my peers at Streets Ahead for giving me the opportunity to take part in things I never thought I could. I’m really excited about the future.”
According to the latest figures released by the Welsh Government, homelessness in Wales is at a five year high with experts identifying the poor economic climate and an undersupply of affordable homes as part of the problem. But whether it’s a small grant of £2,500 for St Catherine’s Church in Pontypridd to hold regular film evenings for homeless people or a large grant of over half a million pounds for Digartref Ynys Môn to provide specialist accommodation and housing support for homeless young people on Anglesey – BIG is helping the projects it funds to make a truly remarkable difference to the lives of those who need their support.
Highlighting the importance of the funding, Big Lottery Fund Wales Director, John Rose, said: “Having worked for the Big Lottery Fund for nearly a decade, I’ve seen firsthand through some of the great projects we support how homelessness can happen to anyone and how everyone's story is different. With no sign of the economic downturn loosening its grip, we realise that during these hard economic times that projects which provide support for the homeless or tackle the root causes of homelessness need our help more than ever. And it’s not about how much money we give out - it’s about the positive impact the money we award is having on the lives of people and communities that need it the most.”
He added: “By adding value to the support and advice provided by our projects and other statutory and voluntary organisations in Wales, I believe we can all work together to make a big difference where tackling issues around homelessness is concerned.”
Homelessness in Wales – The Facts:
• Recent statistics from the Welsh Government (December 2012) show more than 19,000 people said they had nowhere to live, a rise of about 27% on the previous year.
• Figures showed councils across Wales had 19,530 calls for help from homeless people in the 12 months to March 2012 and has gone up for the second year running.
• In the previous financial year, the 22 local authorities in Wales dealt with 15,324 cases of homelessness.
• In the last financial year, ministers accepted 6,515 people as homeless in Wales.
• Figures also suggest more than £8m was spent on temporary accommodation during that period, which includes any housing benefit payment made by the UK government.
• The proportion of households who come to Shelter Cymru faced with mortgage repossessions has trebled in the past four years and the number of people in Wales claiming help from councils for homelessness has also gone up for the second year running.
• Last year Shelter Cymru dealt with nearly 17,000 housing problems in Wales and prevented homelessness in 89% of those cases.
• In 2011 – 2012, The Wallich supported over 4,300 homeless and vulnerable people across Wales – 800 of them rough sleepers.
For further information about the Big Lottery Fund and and how you can apply for funding, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/wales
Further Information:
Oswyn Hughes - Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 207
Out of Hours Contact: 07760 171 431
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030 Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/biglotterywales
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/biglotteryfundwales
Notes to Editors
• In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out close to £100,000 a day in National Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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