When recessions hit and policy breaks down, we need charities to fill the gap
When governments fail to act, someone else must step in. These organisations, like the network of homelessness charities at St Martin-in-the-Fields, are London’s unsung heroes, writes Elena Siniscalco
Walking along the aisles of St Martin-in-the-Fields is a powerful experience – whether you’re religious or not. In between services, the church is completely silent, a peaceful place – you hear the echo of your footsteps as loud bangs. The church, tucked on the side of one of the busiest spots in London – Trafalgar Square – is gorgeous on the outside and simple on the inside. Within its four walls, it holds a story of resilience and compassion.
It all started a hundred years ago. When the church’s vicar Dick Sheppard came back from the first world war, he was deeply touched by the state of his city. He saw crippling poverty, rising levels of homelessness and people losing their hope for a brighter future. He decided he had to do something. Sheppard was a well-liked and connected man, and wanted to put his influence to use. History has it that while having lunch with Lord Reith, the director general of the BBC at the time, he had an idea: they would air the Christmas appeal on the broadcaster to raise money for poverty-stricken Londoners.
The first appeal was in 1925; the first on Radio Times was two years later. This tradition has stood the test of time, turning a hundred years old in two years. In 1927, the vicar managed to raise £3,500. In 2015, the appeal on Radio 4 reached £2.5m.
From one man’s idea sprung a network of community and support that is still expanding today. The St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity was born in 2014 as an independent homelessness charity, and is housed in the building next door. It funds and supports individuals, frontline workers and other homelessness charities up and down the country, including the Connection, based in the same building.
The Connection works with people sleeping rough in London. It’s an institution in the capital – people have come through their door for a warm meal or a chat for decades. The main common room is painted orange, the colour of joy and energy. Upstairs, there’s a canteen and an Internet room. The place is full of artworks made by the people who come in; the art room, on yet another floor, is tall, spacious and full of light.
Walking around, it’s obvious the premise of this space is that people sleeping rough need support not only in finding work, claiming benefits, or with migration application forms. They also need a space to decompress, where they can do things and find trust in their community. Not having a safe, warm place to get back to in the evening in a city as big and chaotic as London is dramatically difficult. It was in 1925, and it still is in 2023.
What people working in food banks or homelessness charities always say is that they’d prefer if their job didn’t exist. As a society, and as a city where homelessness is so rampant, we offer a helping hand. But it’s still a world in which one in 58 Londoners was homeless last year and had to rely on the kindness of strangers.
Networks of care like the one at St Martin-in-the-Fields hold the city together at a time when so many things are breaking apart in politics and society. They create a circle of taking and giving. Sara was supported by a grant from St Martin’s back in the 1970s, when she was jumping from one temporary accommodation to another with her kids. A small grant from the charity meant she could buy a kettle and a washing machine. “We literally had nothing. I used to heat up water in the kettle and stand the kids in the washing machine to wash them”, she says. Sara was homeless more than once, but ended up becoming a social worker herself. She often helped people applying for the same St Martin’s grants she once applied for. She says she feels a great deal of personal gratitude for the charity, but also their “flexible, pragmatic and non-judgmental” approach.
We don’t often hear these stories because when it comes to homelessness, we prioritise policy-making – so far poor and ineffective to say the least. But when governments fail to act, someone else always has to step in – often unsung heroes of big cities like London. Realising that needs are different, and someone might need a kettle more than a mattress is what differentiates a human approach from a dehumanising one. People who have been part of this corner of Trafalgar Square, like Sara, want to maintain that link. So maybe for once, it’s right to tell these stories.