St. Martins Housing Homeless Charity

45 William Kett Close, Norwich, NR1 4FD

What is it?

Bishopbridge House is a 30 bed “direct access” hostel, the only such facility in Norwich. This means that single homeless people who may be sleeping rough can refer for a bed at the hostel without going through another agency. Bishopbridge House is always full and operates a waiting list with those deemed to be most vulnerable at the top of the list.

The hostel is owned by Broadland Housing Association and was opened in 2002. All residents have their own en-suite rooms and ten of the residents (those newly admitted) have their meals provided. The hostel is a good, temporary living environment for people who are homeless in Norwich and also provides a good working environment for staff who provide round-the-clock support on site.

Residents are prepared for moves into their own independent accommodation or perhaps into another placement within the Trust network of projects or a specialist hostel managed by another provider. The average length of stay for residents at Bishopbridge House is about 4 months.

The resettlement process at Bishopbridge House is assisted by a programme of social and recreational activities aimed at providing residents with the skills and confidence they need when they leave. A measure of the success of the resettlement process continues to be the fact that very few of the residents re-appear at Bishopbridge House asking for accommodation.

John

45, Norwich

Anyone's life can take unexpected turns and mine has been no different. A series of bad choices coupled with an alcohol problem left me homeless with no-one to turn to. I, as many others have, had exhausted the goodwill of friends and I found myself left with no options but to sleep on the streets of Norwich.
I made contact with the rough sleepers team at St Martins and I was lucky enough to be given a place at Bishopbridge House. By this time I had lost all sense of self esteem. I had no self respect and felt like a non-person. "Normal" people crossed the street to avoid me or faces were averted. The staff at Bishopbridge House saw past the street sleeper and drinker and just saw me.
With their support and a safe place to sleep I was able to tackle my addiction and reassemble my life. I am now happily married and have a happy home life. I have been working as a volunteer for St. Martins for several months and have recently achieved an ambition of several years, I am now a full member of staff.
I cannot imagine where I would be now had Bishopbridge House not been available to me. Without being over-dramatic I truly believe that they saved my life. I cannot thank enough the staff, the volunteers and all the people who donate so generously to St Martins.