Latest Blog Heading into Summer It’s true that winter piles on the pressure for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. It’s also true that these pressures don’t disappear when the sunshine arrives. With our winter work delivered, and the coldest months behind us, we're not slowing down. Here we sharing some of our work over the past year, with an eye on the future. Prevention Work Homelessness is traumatic. But it isn’t inevitable. Caring in Bristol’s approach to prevention proves this by supporting people to take control as early as possible, and enabling them to move towards greater security. Through our Early Doors prevention project… Case Work We provided long-term, holistic support to 80 individuals facing complex challenges. Many are at risk of homelessness due to eviction, debt, unsafe housing, or health issues. Through tailored one to one advice and casework, we helped resolve urgent housing issues and delivered life-changing support. Housing Advice Drop-ins We supported 211 clients through weekly two hour drop-in sessions (including 127 solely delivered by our partner Housing Matters with funding from Caring in Bristol), offering advocacy, support, and signposting to help those at risk of homelessness understand their rights and avoid crisis. Coproduction Groups We held 25 Co-Production Groups, including a new Youth Group, across three Bristol areas, regularly engaging 157 individuals at risk of or with direct experience of homelessness. Together, they tackled local issues like community safety, received training, and built their confidence and information sharing skills to cascade vital information to others in their community. Housing Support Handbook We printed and are still distributing 2,500 physical copies of our Housing Support Handbooks, which are also freely downloadable from our website. We've just created a new and updated 2025 edition. Also strengthening our capacity to deliver prevention-based work in the city, our food-led project, Bristol Goods was able to provide access to food, along with information, advice, and support to people experiencing precarious housing situations, or moving away from a period of homelessness. We believe in our strapline, "Good Food Does Good," not least because we saved approximately 14 tonnes of food that would otherwise go to landfill through our partnerships with FareShare South West, North Bristol Foodbank, and Community Farms. In the year ahead, we'll be continuing to build on this work so that we can meet more urgent need, searching out the best resources to enable our members to move back from housing insecurity and homelessness. Pop-up Food Clubs A total of 179 weekly food clubs took place at three different locations: two focused on adults and families and the third club focused on youth. In total there were 2,068 individual visits. We'll continue to provide these vital clubs, and we hope to be able to expand provision. Cookery Courses We ran a new 6 week long cookery course in October 2024 in collaboration with Bristol based charity the Mazi Project and launched our second one in March for our Bristol Goods members. Ongoing Support Our Bristol Goods team also provided 375 hours of light touch support to our food club members throughout the year checking in on their wellbeing as well as offering signposting to services such as tenancy support, financial resources, and providing our Housing Support Handbook. In addition, our Caring in Bristol Housing Rights Workers attended 42 sessions over the last year to offer one-on-one housing support and advice, providing 63 hours of support. “Really helpful to me and the choice of food is great. I have been able to meet new friends through the club as well – if I didn’t come here, I would just be sitting at home alone.” “Attending the food club has also connected me with vital support beyond food. I’ve been able to speak with Jess, the Early Doors Housing Rights Support Worker, who has given me really helpful advice about my housing." Visit our prevention section Youth Work Continuing to see young people being disproportionately affected by homelessness and housing insecurity has deepened our commitment to providing specialist support for those who find themselves pushed towards crisis point. Our Project Z team of youth practitioners are highly-skilled in building trusted relationships with young people, and centring their work around individual need. Floating Support The team provided six months of tailored one to one support to 52 young people facing complex challenges, with 100% maintaining or improving their housing and all making progress in key areas such as self-esteem, coping skills, and support networks. This demonstrates the impact of sustained, trusted relationships in securing positive outcomes. Workshops and Groups We delivered 78 workshops and group sessions - ranging from 43 food clubs and two six-week cookery courses to health and well-being sessions and arts and crafts drop-ins - all shaped with input from young people to ensure they met real needs and interests. We've trained 6 young people as peer facilitators for Project Z to help us run the weekly food clubs as well as our group sessions Through the weekly Bristol Youth Goods food club at the Youth Hub, 40 young people regularly accessed affordable, nutritious food in a safe, welcoming space where they could connect, be heard, and receive support. Emergency Youth Shelter July 2025 will mark the first year of Z House, our dedicated emergency youth shelter opened with four rooms, providing 848 nights of accommodation to young people in need. Since this date, we have supported 12 young people with 10 successfully moving on in the year. Insights from our staff, volunteers, and young people have created a huge amount of learning. This is driving the project forward, and has created an effective model to inspire further provision in the sector. The shelter is now open every night of the year with a dedicated team of staff and volunteers to support the young people staying there. “At the youth shelter I was given amazing support to find jobs. Also, When I'm feeling low, I speak to any of the members of Z House for advice or support and they come through to help me.” "Project Z food group helps me a lot when I`m struggling financially or when I am in need of housing advice. They are always there with a helping hand. Thank you." “Being trans, you can get bullied in the street, people shout at you. Here you have a safe space for LGBTQ+ people… and you know you’ll have a friendly face who can help you talk it through.” Visit our youth services section Caring at Christmas Our work at Christmas formed the beginnings of Caring in Bristol back in 1987. Decades later, sadly, this work is still needed. Caring at Christmas 2024 was a success, bringing in new resources, facilities, and delivery formats to enhance the experience of people who experience some of the harshest living conditions in the city. You can download the latest impact report here. We're already thinking about this year's project, and carrying forward the learning from last year's. Caring at Christmas 2024 535 guests were reached by the project. They made 1437 visits to the pop-up centre at Bristol's Trinity Centre. 486 hard-working volunteers gave 3800 hours to make the project possible. 203 hot meals, 310 frozen meals & 158 hampers were delivered to those who could not travel to the centre (including those is temporary accommodation). New personal shopping experience launched to distribute clothing with dignity and in a mindful way Daily meals prepared by some of Bristol's finest hospitality businesses. Caring in Bristol Handbook This valuable resource helps those who are rough sleeping and in a precarious situation to navigate their situation, and get the immediate support they need to prevent a crisis from deepening. This go-to handbook is also used by workers and agencies across Bristol to help signpost people quickly and effectively. We printed and distributed 8000 copies of the 2024 version. The 2025 version has already been updated and produced. The handbook is freely downloadable from our website, and this year will see the launch of a dedicated website version of the publication. This new site is fully searchable, and allows agencies to log in and ensure the information about their services is fully up to date. SWEP From October to March, our staff and volunteers played a key role in delivering Bristol’s Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) for the first time, supporting 80 rough sleepers during the harshest months, helping prevent cold-related harm during sub-zero conditions. They set up, welcomed, and supported night workers in pop-up shelters across the city. What's next? All of the above work is ongoing, and we continue to monitor and evaluate what we do to ensure that our work is always needed, effective, and impactful. We've developed a new theory of change as a tool to scrutinise every aspect of our work, challenging us to demonstrate that we achieve what we set out to do. It will also inform all the developments that we are planning and delivering. There's lots work needed, and we are determined and ready to do it! We are Caring in Bristol! Thank you for your support, helping us to create lasting change! Donate and support our work Manage Cookie Preferences