CARIS Families

CARIS Families works with homeless families living in temporary accommodation hostels within the London Borough of Camden and Hackney.

Due to the chronic shortage of affordable housing, particularly in London, homeless families often end up staying in hostels for several years. Unbelievably, the reality is that whole childhoods often end up being lived out in these facilities.

Families living in temporary accommodation hostels experience multiple deprivation as they attempt to raise their children in the most unsuitable, overcrowded, and cramped environments imaginable. We provide activities and support services located within the hostels to improve families’ day-to-day experiences and their longer-term prospects. We support children and their parents through fun sessions such as under 5’s weekly play club and outings, homework clubs for 5 – 12 year olds, a summer programme of educational trips as well as much needed welfare and advocacy support for parents.

For every family we work with, our aim is for their children to enjoy their childhoods as best they can and not be defined by the deprivations and inequalities of hostel life. We want children to fulfil their potential and develop aspirations for their own futures. We want them to enjoy strong community support from our dedicated staff and their peers during homelessness, and to feel fully supported with their transition out of it.

We know our services make an immense difference to the families we work with. Since we began, 100% of participating parents said our play club had ‘significantly’ helped relieve the stress of parenting in the hostel and 79% said the homework club had directly helped their child improve their school performance. During 2022 we expect to work with 100 children from 69 families, all are experiencing trauma, poverty and homelessness.