Please choose a question
What do you do?
What do you mean by support?
What sort of people do you support?
Do you help people back in to work?
What sort of rules are there in your hostels?
Where do you work?
Do you let other people know you’re working with me, such as my landlord?
What does it cost?
How do I get support?
Prevent Homelessness – support workers can visit people at home to help them deal with rent arrears or eviction notices, debt and budgeting problems, neighbour disputes, or to support people to become less socially isolated. This is known as Floating Support. You can have Floating Support for up to 2 years.
Help find accommodation – Outreach workers work with vulnerable people who have no home of their own to find accommodation and support them to move in and maintain it. They have weekly drop-ins to give advice, make contact with rough sleepers and visit prisons.
Support independence – we have a number of hostels where people can rent a room for a few months or up to 2 years, and support workers are on site to help people get the skills to live more independently.
We also have hostels specifically for young people, which are in Canterbury.
If you already have your own accommodation, you can get Floating Support.
None of our workers will provide hands-on care or do things for you. Workers encourage people to do things for themselves but will be there to advise and assist. They understand things like benefits, housing, NHS services, Social Services, mental health, addictions and probation, so they can help make things clearer.
When you start with a service you will have an assessment of what you feel you need and the worker will produce a plan of what they will support you with. This is reviewed regularly to make sure you’re happy with the support you’re getting.
What sort of people do you support?
As long as you have an issue you need support with, you can be referred to us. A large number of the people we work with have some form of physical or mental health problem, addiction or offending history. Sometimes their condition is the reason they have become homeless, sometimes conditions have developed because they became homeless.
Other people can become socially isolated in their own homes or because of a traumatic incident such as a bereavement or relationship/family break-up are unable to cope with day to day life. We ensure people know where to get professional help and encourage them to take it. We then help them rebuild their confidence in managing things such as finances and bills.
We often provide accommodation or support for people being released from prison, as often they no longer have contact with their family and friends.
We are unable to support people with high needs or where the risks to staff, other service users or the community are too high. We will refer those people to more appropriate services.
No-one ever intends to be in a position where they would need our support, but any one of us could go through similar experiences, and support form Porchlight helps people get back on track.
We believe everyone deserves a second chance, but we do insist that people cooperate with their support and have a desire to improve their situation.
Do you help people back into work?
We don’t find people jobs but where they are on unemployment benefits we support them in dealing with Jobcentres so they can find work. We also assist with finding voluntary work.
We also run basic skills training in some of our hostels and support people to attend training or college to increase their skills. We have a number of people in our services at any one time who are working, and we believe strongly in employing people who have previously experienced our services, so they are encouraged to apply for any jobs within the charity.
A significant percentage of people have been advised by their doctor that they cannot work because of their condition, so we try to ensure they have lots of purposeful activity and access lots of opportunities in the community.
What sort of rules are there in your hostels?
Each site is different. Every project is clear that illegal substances cannot be used on the premises. Some hostels ban alcohol, others allow tenants to drink as long as it is in private in their room. Some projects have curfews, in others tenants can come and go as they please. All projects have limits on visitors.
The rules are made clear before someone moves in, and tenants get warned if they have broken any. Occasionally people are asked to leave services if they have repeatedly broken rules or are not cooperating with their support.
Our Outreach workers cover every district in Kent (but not Medway) and our other services run in the areas covered by the Canterbury, Dover, Thanet and Ashford local authorities.
Do you let other people know you’re working with me, such as my landlord?
Everything that is discussed is confidential; we only share information about our work with you with your permission. Sometimes this can be beneficial. For example, if you have been threatened with eviction but your landlord knows you are getting support to address the problems, they are usually more cooperative.
We are funded to provide the services we offer so most people do not have to pay anything. However, if you live in one of our hostels, you will pay rent (if you are on benefits this is covered by Housing Benefit/Housing Allowance), and there is a small personal contribution of a few pounds per week towards shared costs and bills.
Our Outreach workers have a weekly drop-in session in each district. To find out where your nearest drop-in is visit our local drop in page.
If you want Floating Support, you can complete the form here and send it to the Supporting People Team in Maidstone, the address is on the form. There is usually a waiting time of a few weeks before they confirm who will be supporting you.
If you want to move into one of our hostels you can call in to refer yourself or send a referral form to us. If you have someone working with you already such as a housing officer, support worker, health professional etc, they can refer you if you’d prefer. There is often a long waiting list for our hostels but we will contact you regularly to update you on how your referral is going.
