BEHIND THE HEADLINES: Working to help the Newport's homeless

FOR the founder of pioneering Newport charity EdenGate, tackling the city’s homelessness problem is not just about providing more food.

“So many people think lack of food is one of the biggest problems homeless people face, but actually there’s already a lot of food for homeless people in the city,” said Caroline Johnson, EdenGate’s founder.

Ms Johnson, who has worked at the charity since 1990 when it was formerly called Teen Challenge, said although food is important when helping the homeless, she wants to “move it up a level”.

It is for this reason the charity is embarking on several new projects including a pioneering and exciting scheme to provide housing for the homeless in disused shipping containers, as well as increasing the mentoring and support they receive.

EdenGate, based in Commercial Street, is run by a small team including Ms Johnson and her husband, but the charity relies on more than 500 volunteers.

It is a charity based on a Christian ethos and works with 28 churches across Newport to provide a range of support for homeless people – including its best-known project, the Newport Night Shelter.

The night shelter, which only just closed on March 31 after having been open since November last year, opens up churches across Newport to provide night-time accommodation for the city’s homeless during the coldest months.

It was launched in Newport seven years ago and was the first night shelter to be opened in Wales, inspiring others in Swansea, Bridgend, Cardiff and Caerphilly.

The churches cook the guests an evening meal, provide blow up beds and quilts in the actual church and then serve breakfast in the morning.

A total of 14 churches take part in the project – seven taking part for nine weeks at a time and then swapping – and EdenGate manages the churches. They receive referrals from 10 agencies working with homeless people as well as assessing guests themselves who have popped in to their city centre base.

“Guests” is the word the charity uses to describe the people it helps and it sums up their attitude to the people it helps.

“We look at the person as an individual,” Mrs Johnson said. “People look at homeless people and say it is their own fault and maybe it is sometime, but they are human beings and if they mess up, the door’s always open and they can come in time and time again. Locally we can make a difference.”

The charity relies on donations which Mrs Johnson said can often be good. She said: “We don’t get lots of funding which is good as it means we can look at the person as one individual. Services with lots of money have to look at them in terms of services.

“Here we can look at their problems and, if they want it, they can have it.”

As well as the night shelter, EdenGate also runs Breaking Free – a programme to help get people off drugs.

But unlike the night shelter, the charity does not rely on referrals for its drug programme and takes on people who have come into its centre.

Homeless people suffering from addiction are mentored and then often sent to rehabilitation programmes across the country.

“We’ve driven to Scotland to take them to rehab before,” Mrs Johnson said. “When you get to know somebody it makes a massive difference how you work with them. Anyone with addiction is welcome and self-referrals often mean they want to do it.”

The charity’s biggest project is Sunday Munch, which works with 28 churches across the city. Each Sunday lunch time, up to 70 homeless people are welcome to pop in and take a brown paper lunch bag made by one of the volunteers.

Some guests want to stick around and have a chat, while others come in just for the food. Mrs Johnson said either doesn’t matter.

She said: “It’s about building relationships with people and making that first point of contact. If anyone needs anything they can just pop in.”

But now the charity is hoping to take its work forward. The Amazing Spaces sounds the most exciting; it is a plan to buy 10 40ft leftover shipping containers which will then be turned into mini-flats for homeless people.

The idea has been done before elsewhere but will be the first of its kind in Wales.

“There are lots of spare shipping containers as it’s often more expensive to ship them back then to make a new one,” said Stuart Johnson, Caroline’s husband.

“There’s loads of spaces in Newport which can be used for it and the good thing is you can pick them up and move them about.”

Mrs Johnson said although the hostels she sends people on to are fantastic, it’s often not their own space.

She said: “With working with them for so long we would like them to have something of their own.”

The 10 shipping containers would cost the charity around £180,000, but they are optimistic that once the first one is launched, the rest could be completed within six months.

“The guys can’t wait for it,” Mrs Johnson said. And the guests themselves would be involved with the building of the project, meaning they could also learn new skills on the job.

As well as the shipping containers, EdenGate is also hoping to develop another side of its service.

Mrs Johnson said: “We have always sent people away to recover so we want to see how can people recover here. So we are looking at supporting and mentoring people coming in, looking at recovery.

“We used to open just as a drop-in on a Monday evening. But now we have three or four we are working with who want to come off their drugs and alcohol.

“The support we want to give, this would be more structured and they would get one person who would work with them. Our drop-in sessions are to befriend people and then we support people with our new mentoring scheme.”

Mentoring and building up a relationship is what helped Maria and Jordan, who came to Newport when they were homeless 10 years ago.

“I came to Newport to beg and support my drug habit in 2005,” said Maria, now aged 34. “I lived on the streets of Newport for nearly three years. I was helped into accommodation by Teen Challenge (now EdenGate) who I became involved with.

“In 2006 the doctor told me if I did not stop using heroin and crack I would be dead. That year I found out I was pregnant. I spoke to Caroline and decided after talking to her to keep the baby.

“Due to being pregnant I stopped using heroin and crack and I have never touched those drugs again.”

Since then, Maria and Jordan have had three more children and Maria said she has a “new chapter happening in my life”.

She said: “I want to thank EdenGate for their continued support as I move on to the new things with my family beside me”.

Ms Johnson talks about the couple with fondness. “They are the longest couple we have worked with,” she said.

“When I first met her she wouldn’t even look at me. Her and her partner have done so so well.”

Despite being such a small team, it is clear EdenGate’s reach into the community goes far. As they begin their new projects and “moving it up a level”, the pioneering charity looks likely to continue helping people the city over.

The charity is asking any local companies who may have spare shipping containers to please get in touch.