Brighton homeless charity '˜needed more than ever' as it marks 50 years

Andy Winter, Pat Norman BHT Life President and Lord Lieutenant Peter Field SUS-181018-094611001

Last year it worked with 7,946 clients and tenants, and helped 514 households in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings into community housing.

Its First Base day centre for rough sleepers in Brighton helped 1,113 people last year, and 498 of these clients took part in a programme of structured support which resulted in 222 people being helped in accommodation.

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It runs mental health and addition services, and some of its lesser known work includes its advocacy services for unaccompanied minors coming through Gatwick Airport.

Andy Winter, chief executive of BHT said the charity’s achievement he is most proud of is changing the law on preventing the deportation of young women at risk of serious harm in their home countries, such as female genital mutilation (FGM).

Councillors from all parties at street collection for BHT SUS-181018-094702001

BHT took on the case of a young refugee from Sierra Leone who entered the UK in 2003 after witnessing her family being murdered by rebel soldiers. Several years later, when the war in Sierra Leone was over, and the girl was told to return as she was over 18, BHT took the case to the House of Lords and won, saying she was at risk of FGM on her return.

“It changed the law in this country,” Mr Winter said. “If you’re at risk of rape or FGM you can now expect protection from the UK government. That is an amazing achievement from BHT.”

The achievements of BHT were celebrated at the i360 on Tuesday, where volunteers, staff, former clients and members of the community marked 50 years of the charity’s work.

Attendees were treated with the debut from the Choir With No Name, a community singing project set up for those with lived experience of homelessness or housing poverty. It already has 40 members nine weeks in.

Speaking at the event was the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex Peter Field, who was also one of the founder members of BHT.

He said: “Fifty years ago when we developed BHT there were no more than about 20 people sleeping rough on the streets. Sadly things did not get any better, they got a lot worse. I think it’s clear homelessness and the issues facing clients are not going away any time soon.”

But he said without BHT, which operates in a city which has the second largest homeless population in England, the situation would be even worse.

Donna Deyton, a former client of BHT who had experienced street homelessness, now works for the charity for its Move On project helping others to get back on their feet. She said: “The help I received over the years has allowed me to heal and recover. I now have a life beyond my wildest dreams. I believe if I did not get the much-needed support I received, my life would look very different today.”

In fact, she is one of a quarter of BHT’s 220 staff who were once clients of the service.

Mr Winter said: “BHT is all about changing lives, 50 years of changing lives.

“It was wrong that in 1968 there were people sleeping on our streets. It is more so today, in one of the richest countries in the world. I wish that organisations like BHT were no longer needed. Sadly, after 50 years, our services are needed more than ever before.”