Cardiff YMCA was established as a Housing Association in 1975, and consists of four city centre housing projects (each with a different focus) offering accommodation and flexible support services for vulnerable men and women of all ages and backgrounds who are in housing need.
Our Organisational aims are:
To provide temporary hostel accommodation to homeless people;
To develop a range of accommodation options;
To manage the Association and its projects with good practice and within statutory guidance.
Most homeless people don’t arrive alone – they arrive carrying an extra vulnerability that makes finding somewhere to live even more difficult.
Whether it be mental health problems, substance misuse, family breakdown or any other issue, homelessness is rarely the only need our service users present. Often the vulnerability is a complication of several factors and each person has a different combination of issues. We record people’s lead need but recognise that many of our residents have complex needs that cut across defined areas.
We work with clients to address issues that have led to their housing crisis or homelessness and develop plans that enable improved opportunities for sustainable resettlement in the community;
We help to enhance Life Skills through a programme of formal and informal support and training, in order to improve and sustain self-sufficiency;
We ensure residents have the opportunity to move on to independent living.
We do this by providing internal support services to clients and utilise external services that support and address identified issues, including the development of skills and opportunities.
We know it isn’t enough to just offer people a roof over their head. Many people who come to us have experienced difficulties or crises that have affected their ability to cope, and some are not ready to take on the responsibilities involved in having their own home or becoming self-reliant in the community. We have therefore developed a number of projects, which offer support, advice, skills training and personal development opportunities so that residents leave feeling more confident and assured about taking their place in the community.
Our projects offer a route away from long-term benefit dependency, training, volunteering and employment opportunities, and gives us the ability to engage with over 120 people, seven days a week, 365 days each year – who would otherwise be homeless and/or sleeping rough.
In addition, we operate a very successful Social Enterprise type facility that provides volunteering opportunities to homeless people as well as other individuals in the community who may have experienced long-term unemployment.
We give every volunteer an opportunity to gain new skills and valuable employment experience in each aspect of the project. Many of our volunteers have been able to secure paid employment both with the YMCA itself, and other local businesses as a result of the skills they have learnt through the project.
With over 1000 people coming over our doors for help every day of every week, we never close. Our dedicated skilled workforce are on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
Cardiff YMCA was established as a Housing Association in 1975, and consists of four city centre housing projects (each with a different focus) offering accommodation and flexible support services for vulnerable men and women...
