Evolve Housing +

Evolve Housing + Support is a leading homelessness and community support charity, and working across London with around 2,000 people (known as our ‘customers’) each year. We work across London boroughs including Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, Bromley, Wandsworth, Royal Borough of Kingston, borough of Merton, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 

Our purpose is to make a lasting difference to lives and communities by providing housing, support and community services to enable homeless people to contribute to society and achieve their full potential. We want to help our customers to be ambitious and optimistic about improving their lives. We believe that everyone has abilities and talents that they can use to thrive and move on to live fulfilled and happy lives, and we support them to these aspirations.

 

We take a holistic approach to support, offering a wide range of opportunities for customers to engage with, empowering them to gain confidence and skills , such as sitting on advisory panels or volunteering to share their skills with fellow customers. To support their improve health and wellbeing, customers can attend counselling sessions  and they also have access to education and employment 1:1 support, workshops and training.

We will:

• Get involved
• Get the basics right
• Believe in people
• Embrace diversity
• Be ambitious
• Empower others

We are:

• Honest
• Inclusive
• Optimistic
• Determined
• Creative
• Passionate

Our story:

Our charity began as Croydon YMCA.  It was first formed in 1861 and formally launched in 1879.    We became South London YMCA when Croydon YMCA merged with the YMCA of Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. We also merged with Earls Court YMCA in 2013.  As a homelessness charity in London, we have always provided somewhere for homeless people to not only live but to gain skills, employment and ultimately thrive.

We now work with homeless and vulnerable people both north and south of the Thames. Our customers and staff include people of all ages, men and women, and people with a rich diversity of faiths and backgrounds and we have evolved our vision and values through everyone’s view of our organisation.  We rebranded in September 2015- becoming Evolve Housing + Support.

Our offer to corporate businesses:

• Corporate volunteering opportunities
• Training for staff on homelessness awareness
• Co-develop, plan and deliver workshops for people who have experienced homelessness

What we need from corporate businesses:

• Employers that are willing to offer work placements for people who have experienced homelessness
• Employers that are willing to host and or co-facilitate training for our customers

Testimonials:

‘Coming to Evolve literally saved my life.’

Sharon, a former customer, now working for Evolve.

‘Living at evolve helped me and I have become motivated for the first time in years.’

- Dan, a former customer, now working for Evolve.

You can find out more about our services here: www.evolvehousing.org.uk