TAP for Bristol is a new way of giving money to help solve homelessness in Bristol, ensuring your donation goes directly to those who need it.

You’ll find TAP for Bristol donation points located in the windows of businesses and on contactless devices in offices and cafés around the city centre, allowing you to make a simple and secure
donation of £3 per tap using your contactless credit or debit card.

TAP for Bristol is an initiative from Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District in partnership with Caring in Bristol.

For more information, visit www.tapforbristol.org.

Plans to open Bristol’s first 24-hour homeless shelter look set to be given the go-ahead next week.

Hailed as an opportunity to make a “significant and long-term” difference to the fortunes of some of the city’s most vulnerable people, the proposal would see the former council office building, St Annes House in Brislington, transformed into a new, 30-bed facility.

www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/bristols-first-24-hour-homeless-shelter-open-october/

“More people living outside means more people dying outside”

It is about America, but I think there is enough in the article to be of interest to us in Bristol, too.   Maybe we should keep a public record of the homeless people who die in Bristol each year?

medium.com/@mshannabrooks/what-happens-when-homeless-folks-die-in-seattle-27093b7c0b4b

Bristol is in the midst of an acute housing crisis, with lack of supply and increasing demands leading to ever-spiralling costs.

Mayor Marvin Rees has pledged to build 2,000 homes per year by 2020 in a bid to address this – but beyond that, the Labour administration says it wants to create mixed neighbourhoods and discourage “gated communities” that only serve to exacerbate existing divides.

It is in with these two goals in mind that the council is seeking to create its own housing company, a move it says will accelerate house-building across the city and enable greater control over the sites that are developed.

www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/bristol-city-council-launch-housing-company/

SARI and BDP are presenting a session on alcohol awareness within the BME community on Tuesday 14 August, 9.30 to 12.30 apotheke-zag.de.

Programme for BDP and SARI Alcohol Awareness Focus Group_ SARI and BDP Event flyer

Life on the streets can be a tough and dehumanising experience – but one Bristol woman is seeking to challenge the bias surrounding homelessness, one cup of tea at a time.

Sarah Jade plans to open a ‘Humanitea Cafe,’ which she hopes will act as a hub for the wider community, as well as a central point with facilities, food and clothes for the city’s rough sleepers.

The concept is simple – anyone who buys a hot drink is handed a token to give to someone they think needs it, be they homeless, at risk of being homeless, or in need of help and support.

www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/people/i-just-want-people-to-feel-like-people-again/

Hundreds of deaths of vulnerable homeless people in England and Wales are going unexamined, an investigation has found.

The Guardian article:

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/24/hundreds-of-deaths-of-homeless-people-going-unexamined

Another news item about Jasper and Help Bristol’s Homeless:

www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/volunteers-needed-transform-double-decker-bus-homeless-shelter/

The Salvation Army compares public attitudes to the reality.

“More than half of people in South West do nothing when they see someone who is homeless”

“…a worrying gap between the reality of what it’s like to be homeless and the perception of the general public.”

“..a lack of understanding around who can be affected by homelessness…”

“Our extensive experience has shown us that homelessness can affect anyone, and so it is surprising that the Ipsos MORI poll has revealed 46 per cent of people in the South West don’t think that they, or someone close to them could ever experience homelessness. “