Founded in 1982 as the Adelaide Road Homeless Families Project to help 28 local families, Doorstep was renamed in 1989 when it moved to its present location in the basement of one of Camden’s largest hostels for homeless families. The name Doorstep was chosen to reflect the project’s accessibility to families living in temporary accommodation in the area.
The families we work with have shelter but living conditions are difficult. A single mother with a child living and sleeping in one room which includes cooking facilities. A child with as little as 6 feet by four feet of floor space to play. A large family of two parents and four children living in one room with cooking facilities and a second room in which all of them sleep, with all their beds lined up and no space between. Some of the families with two rooms have a communal corridor running between the rooms. There is very little space and very little privacy. The families are living on extremely low incomes, often isolated, cut off from family and support networks. They may have fled violence and experienced trauma. Children’s education is disrupted, and parents feel their lives are on hold.
We have to raise every penny we need in order to keep going.
Although, we have had considerable success with funding applications, raising money is getting tougher. We are surviving year by year but still need to achieve longer term security and to increase the staff resources. It’s rather like finding the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to complete the picture of Doorstep, now and for the future