Manchester Homelessness Partnership
CityCo sits on the board of The Manchester Homelessness Partnership. The MHP is a network of people experiencing homelessness, homeless charities, voluntary groups, and businesses, who are all working together to help tackle the problem.
Partners include The Bishop of Manchester, Wood Street Mission, Riverside, The Booth Centre, Lifeshare, Coffee4Craig, Mustard Tree, The Men’s Room, Barnabus, Manchester Action on Street Health, Back on Track, Boaz Trust, On the Out, MACC, JustLife, Reach Out to the Community and Greater Together Manchester.
Homelessness Enquiries
If you are a CityCo, City Centre BID or Accommodation BID member and need assistance, email operations@cityco.com
Homelessness Services Links via Manchester City Council: manchester.gov.uk/homelessness
Manchester Street Engagement Hub
CityCo and City Centre BID support the work of Manchester’s Street Engagement Hub, based at the Mustard Tree in Ancoats. The voluntary sector works in partnership with Manchester Council and Greater Manchester Police at the centre.
There are many services on offer from Riverside Housing, NHS, St John’s Ambulance, Department for Work and Pensions, Coffee4Craig and more organisations. The Hub provides practical support around issues for people who beg or engage in antisocial behaviour, and may be homeless or sleep rough. This includes:
- Provision of a safe and welcoming space
- Mental health support
- Alcohol and drug use support
- Basic wound care
- Support with applying for identification and bank accounts
- Money and debt advice
- Accommodation support
- Moving from begging to selling the Big Issue
- Referral to other organisations.
Real Change MCR Fund
CityCo and Manchester City Centre BID support Manchester’s ‘alternative giving’ homelessness charity Real Change MCR. Instead of giving directly to people on the street, the charity encourages donations to the Real Change MCR fund from individuals and businesses.
Monies raised are accessed by the city’s homelessness organisations and charities who work carefully to support people who are, or have been, sleeping rough. Cash helps to pay for practical items that people may need when building a new life away from the streets.
Random Objects of Kindness: Audiovisual StoryTelling Exhibition
A free audio-visual exhibition about lived experiences of homelessness in Manchester, launched at Manchester Arndale for World Homelessness Day 2023. Ten people who have lived experiences of homelessness, or have worked in local support agencies, publicly shared their deeply personal and candid spoken stories as part of the project created by the local spoken stories company, Heard Storytelling.
Listen to the Stories online at manchesterarndale.com
